The Final Showdown
by reno-xxxXXXxxx
Summary: The 5th and final part of a series. The truth is finally revealed about a vampire named Phoenix and what really happened to Reno while he was missing. Rated T for swearing and violence... Chapter 15
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Hey guys! I finally got around to starting story number 5! This will be the last part of my series. I decided to put some of the new recruits back in it, since i kinda forgot about them before. And to those of you who asked before, no I havent forgotten about Yuffie.

Enjoy and Please Review!!

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**Chapter 1**

"_Have you heard?"_

"_What?_

"_Reno's back!"_

"_Reno? You mean that Turk that died? What?"_

"_I dunno… reckon we're gonna get fired now?"_

The hushed whispered flew about the Shinra Headquarters like a disease for the rest of the day. They irritated Elena a little – for one thing, she had no idea how all the rookie recruits knew about Reno. Another thing was that for some reason hearing anyone else talk about Reno made her heart leap.

The blonde was irritated enough as it was, since she had been told she couldn't wait around for Reno. The redhead was still fighting for his life, and although Tseng had promised he would text her through PHS when something happened, she hadn't heard anything yet. She had been told to go and check around the building, to make sure none of the new recruits were reacting badly to the change of situation. So far she had only seen Ruby, Anthony and Kia. They seemed okay with what was happening, but Elena was sure they didn't really understand.

"Hey, Elena?" Kia said loudly trying to grab the blonde's attention as she walked past them for the second time that day.

"Yeah?" she turned to face the three rookies.

"What the _hell _is going on?" Anthony asked. Elena stared at him, slightly shocked. That was the most she'd heard the auburn haired man say since they're first interview's with Tseng. Come to think of it, Elena wasn't sure what had been happening to the other new recruits while Elena and Rihanna were so wrapped up with Phoenix.

"Reno's back." Elena confirmed their hushed whispers were true.

"Back?" Ruby exclaimed. "But how? Wasn't he…?"

"Where's Phoenix?" Anthony asked.

_'... Phoenix..._ _A mythical creature of great beauty fabled to live 500 or 600 years in the Arabian wilderness, to burn itself on a funeral pyre, and to rise from its ashes in the freshness of youth and live through another cycle of years: often an emblem of immortality or of reborn idealism or hope...'_

"He's dead." Elena said quietly. "Or at least he will be soon."

"Karma…" Ruby said quietly. She saw the look on Elena's face and blushed slightly.

"What?" Elena asked.

"He… Phoenix killed Joey… maybe this happened for a reason." Ruby explained reluctantly. "…just a thought."

"No… because it wasn't Phoenix." Elena told her thoughtfully. "It was Reno."

It had been a long time since she'd thought about that fateful night, but the details were as clear to her as ever. All she needed to remember was that Joey had been a traitor amongst the new recruits, and Phoenix… no, Reno had been right to kill him. But however terrible a person Joey had been, it was always saddening to think she would never see him again; someone she had worked with was gone forever.

"Reno?" Kia shook her head. "I don't understand this…"

"Phoenix was Reno." Elena smiled slightly. No wonder he had annoyed Joey so much.

"Oh… so it was _Reno _who was crazy…" Ruby said with an awkward expression on her face. Elena could tell that Ruby was going to be a little dubious about the whole thing, since she had never forgiven Phoenix for killing Joey. Elena could understand her point of view however, so she didn't blame Ruby.

"Nope…" Elena smiled. "Reno's a psychopath, but he's not crazy. Phoenix is the one who's crazy." She was interrupted by a ringing sound from her pocket and her heart leapt. She pulled the PHS out of her pocket and read what it said :

'_Reno stable. Come and see him if you want.'_

"What's that Elena?" Ruby asked.

"I'm gonna go see Reno…" The blonde said distantly. "… see ya."

"Wait! Can we come too?" Kia called. Elena nodded her head and the three rookies hurried after her.

* * *

Elena entered the pure white infirmary area and made her way to Reno's ward. She didn't much care whether or not the other three Turks were behind her; she only wanted to see Reno.

The first thing Elena noticed as the four Turks piled into Reno's ward was that Rude was already sitting by his bedside. She smiled at the thought of Rude still caring so much for his best friend, and wondered vaguely how long Rude had actually been there. The second thing she noticed was Reno's hair. That was exactly what it was – the nurses must have been able to get the black dye out when they were cleaning the blood and dirt away. The bright red tresses were still tied back in a pony-tail which flowed like lava onto the pillow underneath him. Fiery red – Elena didn't think she'd see it ever again, but now she could see him for who he really was it scared her slightly how delicate he looked. He was thinner, that was for sure, and his red-tattooed cheekbones were more prominent from his unusually pale face. His eyes were close, but she could see the shadows that surrounded them, and for some reason the scar on his neck was more obvious as well. His abdomen was covered in bandages, presumably to stop the bullet wound from bleeding.

"Whoa…" came a gasp from behind Elena. The blonde turned to see Kia staring with her mouth open. "He… uh, doesn't look too good."

"Ya don't say…" came a slightly nasal voice. It took Elena a few moments to work out where the voice had actually come from, but as she looked over at Reno's motionless body, two glinting aqua eyes flickered open…


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **Man, I don't think I've ever tried this hard on a chapter. It took me ages... I don't know why, but I wanted it to be as perfect as I could possibly get it. Let me know if you think the extra work's paid off or whatever.

Enjoy, and please review!

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**Chapter 2**

"Reno?" Elena stared into the face of the man she'd spent many a night for past few months mourning for. The blond Turk could honestly say that moment was the happiest she could ever remember being. She tried desperately not to let the tears flow, but holding them back burned her eyes. She choked a little on her own emotion, then just let the salty tears stream down her face. She had to smile, to let Reno know she cared – hell, she couldn't _help _but smile. Things may have been far from over, but she was already one really big step further than she had been. The three new recruits behind her stayed silent, but Elena could somehow sense the emotion in the room. It was like no one even needed to speak.

"Hey 'Laney." The redhead said. His mouth barely moved as he spoke, but Elena could hear him perfectly. His voice sounded slightly nasal as usual, but there was a distinct weakness to it, and it was hoarse, like he had just recovered from a terrible bout of flu. His pale lips curled up into a smile and Elena just stared at him. That smile frightened her. It was the same smirk Reno usually wore on his face, but it really showed the difference in him. The usually strong man Elena looked up to looked like he could break with the slightest touch. For some reason, even though his body looked dull and weak, his eyes shined with the same aquamarine glow they had before. "Rude…" Reno looked over to the bald Turk sitting by his bedside, slowly raised his arm and waved at his partner, his bony fingers stretching apart slightly. Elena looked at his long, thin arm, slightly freaked out by the canula that was threaded into the vein in his hand. There was no sign of a drip, so Elena guessed that it was for some kind of painkiller.

"He's lost a lot of blood." Elena heard Doctor Evelyn say. "But we think he can build himself back up on his own. We don't like to interfere with the body's natural pattern unless we have to. We've given him a painkiller, so he should be fine."

Elena nodded and just stared at the redhead who'd put his arm back down on top of the sheets. She noticed he also had a bandage around the top on his arm, even though she couldn't remember him being hurt there. Perhaps someone had got to Reno while she and Rihanna had left him to find Oner's book…

"Reno?" The quiet cry from the doorway made Elena's spine tingle. It was Rihanna. "I got a text from Tseng saying you were stable… but I didn't think you'd be awake…"

Her voice was quiet, but the emotion that filled her voice was epic. Elena guessed that the young redheaded girl's feeling were amplified many times compared to her own.  
"Hey, shrimp…" Reno said weakly. Rihanna sniffed and the other Turks moved back to let her past. She kneeled down by Reno's bedside next to Rude and put her arm over her brother without saying a word.

"I love you, Reno." She said eventually, her voice slightly drowned by silent tears. Elena looked at Reno who smiled weakly, and the blond could have sworn she saw a lone tear trickle down his pale face.

* * *

Elena and Rihanna paced quickly down the hall, not saying a word. The urgent clacking of their heels on the tiled floor was all the sound that needed to be made. They couldn't sit around with Reno forever, especially since he had fallen asleep a long while earlier. They had to finish things, this time permanently. All this time Elena had thought she was going nowhere with her plan to try and get Reno back, yet the whole time, she had been ever closer to discovering the truth and getting the Rye family out of their lives forever.

Back at the vampire base, Elena had flicked through Oner's book, trying to find out the truth. All she knew was that there had been a scandal, but the book had been taken off her before she had chance to find out exactly what is was. Phoenix had told them that he and his mother weren't part of the Rye family – but why had he done that? It was as if he was trying to help them in some way, but Elena knew he wouldn't do that intentionally. All he'd done is confuse her even more. How was it possible that the family was split up like that? Elena no longer had Oner's book, but that wouldn't stop her. Her heart raced as she and her redheaded friends approached a familiar large door.

The library – Elena hadn't been there since she had visited it with Reno, but it was still as dark and dismal as she remembered. As she pushed the door open, she pulled a flashlight out of her pocket. She had come prepared this time, since she remembered how dark it was in there. Silently as ever, the two of them entered the large, bookshelf-lined room.

"Reno found the Oner book last time…" Elena said quietly. "And I think he found it over there." The blond pointed over to the load of bookshelves on the left-hand side of the room.

"So it would make sense to look over there first, don't you think?" Rihanna suggested. She walked towards the shelves, despite the fact she probably couldn't see. Elena followed her dubiously, her eyes flicking from one side of the room to the other. As the two Turks got to the bookshelves, Elena focused her attention on scanning the dusty old books. She picked out book after book; anything that even mentioned vampirism, but nothing really helped her. She saw Rihanna was starting to get quite irritated as well, and after about an hour of searching, Elena was about to suggest they call it a day, until one more book caught her eye.

She narrowed her eyes, pulling out a dark colored book from the shelf. It was entitled 'The Vampire Revolution.' Rihanna came closer as Elena opened it, ignoring the rank musty stench that came from its pages. Unsurprisingly, everything past the front cover was written backwards, and in Elena's eyes that was a good sign.

"Oh my… look!" Rihanna pointed to a place on page. Elena shone her flashlight on it and read out loud, turning the words the other way around:

"The Rye Family scandal… how the-?"

"This is an old book… it looks older than Oner's book." Rihanna said, lifting the front cover forwards and examining the leather binding. "I wonder who wrote it?"

"It doesn't say…" The blond said, also examining the cover. She turned back to the page that stated the interesting title and read on out loud:

"The Rye family scandal began with a human by the name of Oner Mandez?" Elena stared at the book in confusion, but carried on reading. "The love of his wife-to-be was more important to Mandez than his family honor, and he adopted the name of Rye to try and acquire the same respect that the rest of the Rye relatives did. His wife never found out about his theft of a family name. The Rye's weren't a respected family, there were feared – this fear was influenced by the family's roots to vampirism. The Rye's are the only known vampire race to have originated in Wutai, and always quickly rose to be the leader of any clan that was created…" Elena stopped talking and smiled. "This is it!" she said excitedly.  
"Wow…" Rihanna ran her hand through her shoulder-length red hair. "Who would have thought this was so complicated." The Turk looked around the room and shuddered. It was starting to get really dark in the library. "Let's get out of here… bring that book."

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**A/N: **That's it for this chapter. Thanks for reading, and I hoped you enjoyed it. I just wanted to say something about the word 'canula.' When I typed it on microsoft word, it didn't recognize it, but it is a word, I promise! Dictionary . com says so :P So yeah, if ya dont know what it is, just ask me :D


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **Yay! I was spozed to update Dry Ice before I did this, but I started that chapter on my dad's computer... basically I have to move the first half of the chapter onto my laptop before i can finish it. Hopefully I'll be able to do that within the next couple of days.

Anyways, onto this story! I decided that since I already made a big step into the main plot on such an early chapter, I'd make this chapter more of a reflection of emotions and stuff like that. This one took a while, since I'm desperately trying to improve my writing.

Enjoy

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**Chapter 3**

Elena looked down at the sleeping redhead and a slight smile touched her lips. Her gaze moved further down to the book on her lap; 'The Vampire Revolution.' All the secrets she'd spent the last few months pondering on were held within its pages, but she couldn't concentrate on it. The thrill of having Reno back hadn't quite worn off yet, and the adrenalin that seemed to constantly pump through her veins left her so preoccupied with staring at the redhead laid before her that she didn't want to concentrate on anything else.

Reno hadn't woken up since Elena and Rihanna had gone to the library, so they hadn't spoken with him since then, but he looked peaceful, and in a grim kind of way, the site before Elena was quite beautiful. His smooth skin was paler than usual, and that combined with his newly red hair, made him look weak, but Elena could see the beautiful serenity of the situation as well. Or maybe that was just Elena's brain, trying to make her not worry quite so much about the redhead… that he _would _be okay. Although Elena thought she could sit and stare at Reno, doing nothing but listen to his shallow breathing all day, she knew she had work to do, and the longer she left it, the more likely it would be that something else terrible would happen, and she would have to suffer this trauma all over again.

Elena jumped as the door behind her opened. The blond looked around, hoping to see Rihanna, but instead Doctor Evelyn entered, holding something in her hand. Elena sighed; Rihanna had insisted that she go and see Tseng about the book, although Elena wasn't sure why. Something in the back of her mind told her that Rihanna was hiding something… but Elena couldn't criticize her; after all, she had been hiding something as well. Since Reno had returned, there had been something on her mind; something she thought she had forgotten, but she could never quite place her finger on it. Just a few minutes after Rihanna departed to see Tseng, it hit her.

Yuffie.

The young ninja had not spoken to any of the Turks as far as Elena knew since Reno had 'died' except from the one occasion when she had explicitly told Elena how much she hated Phoenix. She wondered vaguely if she would still see Reno in the same light if she knew what the Turks did, but there was something bigger that she was thinking of.

Elena watched as Doctor Evelyn approached Reno and lifted his pale arm. Slowly, she clicked open the blue cap of his canula, and fiddled around with the items in her hand, before swiftly pushing the contents of a syringe into the canula. Reno's arm seemed to shudder slightly, and then it lay still on the bed next to him.

"Just some painkillers." Doctor Evelyn said kindly to Elena. The blond Turk smiled and nodded, and the doctor left, leaving Elena alone with the sleeping redhead, and with her thoughts.

Since Reno had re-joined the Turks as Phoenix, she had always felt something every time she saw him. At the time, Elena had just suspected it was longing for Reno, but the more she thought about it, the more unsure she became. On the day when Phoenix had first kissed her, she had felt such a passion for the man that she now knew was Reno. She wondered, would Yuffie still hold that passion for Reno? Elena wasn't sure she'd be able to cope with it. She hadn't realized her feelings before, and she never imagined herself becoming jealous of another woman with Reno, but now, slowly but surely she was beginning to realize she was starting to fall for Reno.

'_One thing at a time Elena, one thing at a time.'_

Elena could tell herself this over and over again, but it didn't seem to make any difference. She was still worried about Reno and Yuffie, and the main problem for her was having to wait for the outcome. It was like torture; everything had come to a standstill, and she had no way of knowing what was coming next.

"Elena?" came a voice from the doorway. Elena turned to see Rihanna enter. The redheaded girl sat down in another chair next to Elena and looked at her brother.

"I told Tseng." She sighed. "He said to keep going with investigation as long as we think we can handle it."

"Okay…" Elena couldn't help but smile slightly. She would have to chance help Reno, and she and Rihanna wouldn't have to put up with anybody else interfering. Elena was half-expecting Tseng to want some of the rookies involved. If nothing else, it was experience for them. "Rihanna… is there something on your mind?" Elena decided that the two of them had grown close enough in the past few months to be able to question each others problems.

"Hmm?" Rihanna looked away from Reno and turned to Elena.

"You just seem to be… avoiding things as much as you can. Like you didn't have to go to Tseng's office alone, you know?" Elena already felt awkward, but she knew some things just had to be said.

Rihanna sighed loudly and looked at her feet. "I dunno… I just…" there was a long pause and she sighed again. "It scares me 'Lena… I don't like to see him like this."

Elena smiled gently and put a hand on Rihanna's shoulder. "I know… but he'll get better, I promise."

"_Big _mistake Laney… never make promises." Elena's heart leapt and she looked over at Reno, whose eyes were already open. "This about promises is you never know if ya can keep 'em or not. Best not to lie to people…"

"Reno…" Rihanna smiled over at her brother. "How are you feeling?"

"Spectacular." Reno replied, his voice beyond sarcastic. "What're ya doin' in here?"

"We were here to keep you company…" The redheaded girl said. "We've been investigating Phoenix… his family tree and stuff."

There was a long pause and Elena looked over at Reno. His sharp aqua eyes were focused on the ceiling above him, and he had a look of confusion on his face. "Phoenix?" he questioned finally.

Elena looked over at Rihanna who shook her head sadly. It hadn't clicked in her head until now that Reno didn't have a clue what was going on. His mind was no different to what it had been when he'd pretending to be Phoenix. Elena was almost sure that the vampire was using his manipulative materia on Reno, but she couldn't be one hundred per cent sure until they got back to Sector 6. For all Elena and Rihanna knew, Reno could still think he was Phoenix. But then he surely wouldn't answer to the name Reno.

"Reno?" Rihanna stood up and walked over to her brother. "Do you remember… the day you thought I died?"

Reno looked at her like she was some sort of crazy lady. "Of course I do."

"Do you remember what happened to your mother?" Elena said. She'd quickly caught onto what Rihanna was doing.

"I…" Reno looked confused. "I killed her, didn't I?"

Elena smiled grimly. It seemed that although the memories were returning to the redhead, he still had those of Phoenix. Although, it could have been a good thing, since that meant Reno was developing some sort of mental resistance to Phoenix's control.

"What did she look like?" Rihanna asked quietly. Elena didn't like the devastated expression she had on her face.

"She had… red hair." Reno narrowed his eyes as though deep in thought. "And green eyes. She was short…"

Rihanna shook her head and clapped her hand over her mouth as though trying to stop herself from crying. Elena felt for her, she really did. What torture Reno must have been going through… he was remembering his real mother, a perfectly respectable and beautiful woman, yet he was remembering slaughtering her in exactly the same way as he killed Vanessa. She knew Reno had cared of his mother very much, even if her life had been cut short, and the thought of brutally murdering her must be unbearably tragic to him.

"Reno… you didn't kill mom…" Rihanna tried to plead with him. "You killed Phoenix's mother." There were tears in her eyes, and Elena felt like crying herself.

"But… I _am _Phoenix." Reno looked from Rihanna to Elena with pitiful confusion etched onto his features. Elena didn't think she'd ever felt quite so sorry for someone. Rihanna kept her hand over her mouth and shook her head yet again.

"Rihanna?" Elena said unsurely. The redheaded girl blinked heavily, before turning and leaving the room hastily. Reno watched her go.

"Reno?" Elena walked over to the redhead and sat down on the edge of his bed. "Don't worry."

"'Laney?" Reno said as a lonely tear ran down his cheek. "I'm so confused."

"I know." Elena reached over and stroked Reno's flaming hair. It was so soft, and Elena passionately thought it looked so much better now it was red again. "We'll sort things out, I promise."

"Did I… did I hurt her?" the redhead asked. He had a strange, child-like innocence in his aura that just worsened Elena's feeling of pity for him,

"No… she's just confused like you." Elena continued stroking his hair. "She'll be fine, and we'll sort this thing out together."

"Me too?" Reno asked, looking up at Elena with unintentional puppy-like eyes. Elena looked at him awkwardly.

"I don't want anything to happen to you." The blond Turk said truthfully. "You're too ill right now." Elena stayed silent for a moment, unsure what to say to Reno. Then, something returned to her memory. "Reno, do you remember Joey?"

"That bastard I killed?" Reno smirked as the memory returned to him. "The new recruit? He tried to kill ya, yeah I remember."

Elena nodded. It was so extraordinary how much Reno's attitude differed just by changing the subject. She wasn't sure if it was a good or a bad thing that he could remembered, or how enthusiastic he was about the subject. Elena was just desperate to know whether Phoenix was realizing Reno was starting to resist his manipulation, and whether he would do anything about it.

Elena focused her attention once again on the redhead, who had his eyes closed. He looked exhausted, and Elena was sure he was asleep. She took her hand off his head and looked back down to the book in her hands. She would not break her promise to Reno and in order to fulfill what she had told him she would do, she would have to read the book. She couldn't risk things going wrong, not when it was Reno's life on the line yet again.

* * *

**A/N: **And there ya have it. I hope it wasn't too boring for you guys. It was difficult to write for Reno this time, since I wanted it to seem like his sister's feeling's always affected him. If you don't understand why Reno had such a rapid mood-swing... well you should by now!! And yes, Yuffie is finally remembered. She will come into play a little further on in the story. So yeah, let me know what ya thought of the chapter etc. and you'll hear again from me very soon!


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **I'm sorry about the wait. This thing has been annoying me beyond belief, and then I had to download some other software to put the story onto, because for some reason, it won't let me upload an OpenOffice file. Hopefully I'll have MS Word soon though. It's gettin toooo confusin lol.

So anyway, this chapter took me a while, and will explain a lot of things. It was difficult for me to write it, so I'm sorry if some things don't make sense. If you have any questions, or there's anythin you don't understand, don't hesitate to ask me, and I'll do my best to answer. Thanks so much for your patience and your ever-inspiring reviews.

Enjoy...

**

* * *

Chapter 4**

It was strange; even though she knew Reno wouldn't be going anywhere, the concept of leaving him wasn't one she liked the idea of. Rihanna still hadn't returned, and Elena had the feeling she wasn't planning on doing so any time soon, but the blond couldn't do anything without her. She wouldn't feel right even thinking about what they were going to do about Phoenix when Rihanna was somewhere else, probably extremely upset. Elena wanted nothing more than to go and comfort her, but she had no idea what she say to try and do so. She had no idea what the redheaded girl was feeling; although she could imagine, it was like nothing Elena had even been through herself.

While Elena was trying to figure out what to do, it got her thinking about her own family… her parents… and Gun. Elena had spent her teen years feeling extremely sorry for herself, all she could think about was how badly Gun had treated her. Now she thought back to it, it only seemed like a sister to sister feud, and nothing more. Compared to what Reno and Rihanna had been through, it was nothing…

Reno's eye twitched slightly in his sleep and he let out a low moan. His heavy breathing confirmed Elena's previous suspicions that he was asleep. Sighing slightly, Elena stood up, stroked Reno's pale skin one last time and left the room, a feeling of dread weighing heavy on her heart.

* * *

Her footsteps seemed to echo as she sauntered down the empty halls. It struck Elena as slightly odd that there seemed to be nobody around, but then she figured it was getting quite late; the days just seemed to fly by lately, so Elena never had a clue what time it was until the sun actually either set or rose. The blond sighed as she carried on strolling, turning left to head off towards the Turk's offices. She figured that if Rihanna had gone anywhere, it was more likely she'd have gone to her office.

It only took her a couple of minutes to tread that very familiar path to the offices, and as she opened the door to the office of the young redheaded girl however, she found it was empty. Elena slumped her shoulders, closing the door and pondering for a moment. Then finally it clicked… there was a place Rihanna was much more likely to be. Elena turned around and stepped slowly towards Reno's old office. The door was slightly ajar, and every footstep the blond took seemed to echo around her. Her heart was pounding as she put her hand out and pushed the door open slowly. Sure enough, Rihanna was sat at Reno's desk, her head resting on her arms, which were crossed.

"Rihanna?" Elena said awkwardly. The younger Turk lifted her head and shook her red hair from her face. It was obvious from her shining eyes and red cheeks that she had been crying.

"Hey." the redhead said in a surprisingly steady voice.

"Are you okay?"

Rihanna didn't respond straight away; she sat up straight and rubbed her eyes, sighing slightly. "Yeah…" she said finally. "What's going on?"

"Rihanna… are you sure you're alright?" Elena didn't like how the redhead was skirting the issue.

"Yeah…" the girl looked at Elena, who would not change her hardened expression, then sighed. "Look… I just wanna get on with whatever we're gonna do, right?"

"Right." Elena smiled. It seemed Rihanna was seeing things in the same light she was; that it was best to get everything over and done with, and then they could concentrate on helping Reno get better.

"But…" Elena opened the top drawer in Reno's desk and pulled something out. "I found this in here."

Rihanna handed the object to Elena; it appeared to be a crystal of some sort. It was yellowish-green in color, but it had a strange glow to it similar to that of materia.

"What is it?" the blond asked.

"Do you remember that mission me and Reno went on a while back to the Great Glacier, when we met Yuffie?" The redhead said in a serious tone. Elena nodded. "We found this while we were there… solid mako… I remember whenever Reno held it, he started acting funny…"

"Oh yeah?" Elena said interestedly. "So what happened?"

"Well… " Rihanna ran a hand through her fiery locks, and looked as though she were struggling to remember. "Yuffie looked after it for most of the time… we never found out what was going on…"

"Well…" Elena handed the crystal back to the redhead. "I think we just found out."

"It was Phoenix…" Rihanna muttered, a look of pure disbelief on her face. 'Phoenix planted it there... but why would he?"

"I don't know... but maybe Valicia and Phoenix have been working together on this? Phoenix would've known about Reno all along..."

"All revenge for him killing Vanessa..." Rihanna sighed.

* * *

"Tseng! Sir!" Elena shouted desperately to try and get her boss's attention as he left his office. The two Turks had left Reno's office in just the right timing to meet their raven-haired superior.

"Elena? What is it?" Tseng said hastily.

"Sir… this…" Elena thrust the strange colored crystal into Tseng's hand. "It needs destroying."

"What is it?" Tseng examined the crystal carefully, tracing it with his finger.

"It's manipulative materia in it's raw form..." Rihanna explained. "We found it at the Great Glacier."

"Oh, really?" Tseng raised an eyebrow and looked interestedly at the crystal. "Is this-?"

"There's still more materia around..." Elena said awkwardly. She was a little reluctant to talk about the subject, mainly because she wasn't sure what was going on herself. Tseng didn't reply immediately, just carried on examining the object in his hand. "Can you get it destroyed?"

"I can..." Tseng sounded suspiciously unsure. "I'll give it to Hojo... he might want to examine it first though."

"Okay..." Elena sighed. She just wanted to be destroyed straight away; that was one thing she hated about Hojo... no matter how much of an emergency something was, he always wanted to carry out various experiments for 'scientific purposes'.

"What's your itinerary?" The raven-haired Turk asked, pocketing the mako crystal. "What are your plans?"

"We're still not sure..." Rihanna told him. Elena noticed that she seemed a lot more cheerful now for some reason. "But we've found out a little more about Phoenix... and we think we've nailed it; we just gotta do a little more research."

"Alright..." Tseng nodded. "I trust you'll go about it responsibly."

"Of course..." Elena smiled, wondering if Tseng thought maybe Rihanna would follow in Reno's footsteps of an unprofessional attitude.

"Okay... Let me know before you make any further plans." Tseng nodded curtly.

"Yes, sir." Rihanna and Elena said simultaneously.

* * *

"So..." Rihanna flicked through the musty pages of the book they'd found in the library. The two of them had returned to Reno's office, deciding that they'd be too distracted if they'd have gone to the infirmary. "Oner... wasn't a Rye? Vanessa... wasn't either... but Valicia was according to this."

"So..." Elena ran these thoughts through her head. "That would mean that Valicia's _father _must've been a Rye..."

"Exactly." Rihanna nodded her head. "So the question is, does Phoenix have the same father as Valicia?"

Elena furrowed her brow, pondering on this. From what the two Turks had read in the book so far, it mentioned nothing about Phoenix. Was it possible that Phoenix was completely unrelated to the family? Elena doubted it however, because otherwise the memories in Reno's head wouldn't be of him killing his own mother. That meant that Phoenix's mother _had _to be Vanessa... the question was, who was his father.

"If Phoenix has a _different _father..." Elena muttered. "Then the only way to kill him would be for another vampire to do it."

"And if he _is _a Rye... someone would have to sacrifice themselves." Rihanna frowned, as though what she'd said didn't quite make sense. Elena picked up on it as well; Reno had not died, but Valicia had. If Valicia had needed to be killed by sacrifice, how was she dead?

"Reno... how is he still alive?" Rihanna said, probably more to herself than to Elena.

"Wait..." Suddenly it clicked in Elena's head. "Didn't that other book say a person had to be _willing _to sacrifice themselves?"

"Yeah!" Rihanna's eyes suddenly lit up. "Reno would've gladly died to save his friends... and that was that enabled him to kill her, not his actual death."

"Okay..." Elena flicked through the pages of the book until something caught her eye. The words 'Family Ties' was was scrawled untidily next to a typed title that seemed to say the same thing, only backwards. The blond quickly read the first part, swapping the letters around the right way... her heart raced.

"Listen to this... many years ago, the family of Emerson staked a claim on being just as powerful as the Rye's, and were determined to prove they had roots to the original Wutai vampires... because of this, in many recent generations the Rye's and the Emerson's have been very closely linked..."

"So, what?" Rihanna raised an eyebrow. "You reckon Phoenix was an Emerson?"

"No idea... but will this book tell us? I mean... Phoenix is only young, and this book is old..." Elena looked confusedly at the redhead.

"'Lena?" Rihanna laughed lightly and grabbed the book off Elena and flicked forwards a few pages. "Do you know nothing about vampires? Phoenix could be any age... vampires that live almost always in the dark tend to look younger... Phoenix could be anything from 20 years old onwards, he could be hundreds of years old... here!" she almost shouted, making Elena jump. The blond leaned in a started to read what Rihanna was pointing at, as usual turning the words the right way around.

_'... One of the most recent links between the Rye and the Emerson family was a powerful Rye vampire, Vanessa, adopting an Emerson as her own child. Phoenix Emerson was only a few months old when he was thrown out of his home for not being 'pure blood'. It is still unknown how vampires can see the pureness of blood...'_

"That's it!" Elena said loudly, stopping reading. She felt positively elated. "Phoenix was an Emerson... adopted..." the blond stopped smiling momentarily. She didn't like how sorry she felt for Phoenix... maybe it wasn't his fault to start with... maybe if she could just speak to him.

"C'mon..." Rihanna grinned at Elena, oblivious to th other Turk's feelings. "Let's go see Reno..."

Elena nodded and the two of them left the office and started to head for the infirmary. She felt bad, for Phoenix and for Reno. She had only just remembered how the redhead had become involved in that mess; something which wasn't his fault. But Phoenix might have been a good man as well, if someone could just talk to him. It took Elena only a moment to figure Rihanna out; she didn't feel sorry for Phoenix because she just wanted her brother back, never mind the consequences. That was the way Elena wanted to feel; but why didn't she? She didn't want anyone to get hurt, but she wanted Reno back...

The only problem was that Elena knew that if a person that wants everything, they usually end up with nothing.

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**A/N: **Thanks for reading! Remember if you didn't understand, just ask. Also, I referenced back to 'Echoes in the Snow'. I hope you can remember that, and if you haven't read it, it might be a good idea to do so if ya got a bit of spare time. I know a lot of people haven't actually read all the stories in this series, bearing in mind this is the fifth one.

Soooo, yeah, thanks for reading, and please review and lemme know what you thought.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **Sorry about the wait, yet again. I've had to knuckle down with schoolwork, so if I take a long time to update in future, ya know why. I just kinda churned a chapter out because I felt bad at leaving it so long, so it's not as long as usual. Sorry guys :)

Enjoy and please review

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Chapter 5**

It was always the same, Elena found, that sitting and watching Reno's motionless form started her off on a train of thought. After several hours of sitting in silence, just staring mindlessly, Elena was starting to not feel so sorry for Phoenix. She had pitied him just hours before; she couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to be thrown out of her own home, but she figured that most people suffer in one way or the other. Reno had suffered more than anyone she knew, and he still managed to be a reasonably good person. No... this was just Phoenix's thinking; he was one of the bad guys, and he had to be stopped. After thinking like this for a few minutes, the blond started to doubt herself a little again; why was she having to try so hard to convince herself she was right? It didn't even make sense.

"That bastard." came an angered cry from the doorway. Elena looked up sharply as Rihanna entered the hospital room and plopped herself down on a chair with her head in her hands.

"Rihanna?" Elena leaned over to try and look the redhead in the eyes. "What's up?"

"I've just been to see Hojo." she explained, positively seething. "Tseng told me he'd given that materia stuff to him, so I wanted to make sure it got destroyed. And he won't do it!"

"Why not?"

"For _science reasons. _That's the biggest load of bull-"

"All right." Elena cut her off, smiling slightly. Rihanna was like Reno in the sense that them being angry was usually a good sign. It meant she was starting to get back to herself. Elena knew that Rihanna would take any opportunity to leave the hospital room, like to go and see Hojo, but she accepted that now. Rihanna was just different to her, and didn't like to spend too much time dwelling on past mistakes. For Elena however, it was inspiring to look at the person she was trying to save while she concocted a plan.

"Don't worry about it." Elena told her reassuringly. "We both knew Hojo would do that. But I don't think that materia has anything to do with the way Reno's been acting."

"Ya think?" Rihanna questioned.

"Mm... I think the idea of that materia was to draw Reno to Phoenix, so he could get to him properly. Now that he's being controlled by the proper materia, I don't think Phoenix needs to use that one." The blond explained.

"I guess so..." Rihanna seemed unsure. "But Reno's starting to resist the materia now. What if Phoenix picks up on that?"

"I don't know." Elena shook her head. "I think all we can do it go back to Sector 6. Everything else is out of our hands."

Everything seemed to fall incredibly silent after that, and Elena didn't know how, but she knew Reno was awake. His eyes were still closed, and Elena was scared to breath, just to break this sudden silence. She didn't have to though; Reno did it for her.

"I want to come." he said, surprisingly loudly.

"W-what?" Elena said in a shocked tone. Reno was in no fit state to come with them.

"'Lena... this whole thing is my fault anyway, the least I can do is help you." Reno now opened his eyes and looked at the two women. Elena was happy to see that his aqua irises were looking much brighter now.

"Reno." Rihanna said bluntly. "Don't be stupid, it's gonna be dangerous."

"Exactly." Reno said confidently. "I think... I think I'm the only one that can stop him."

"Not this again." Elena said, slightly angrily. "You're always playing the hero, Reno."

"Shut up." Reno snapped. "That's exactly what he said. Just 'cause I'm lyin' in this bed don't mean I can't throttle ya... now listen up."

Elena nodded and looked at Reno expectantly. Although she could tell he was joking towards the end of his sentence, she still knew now was the time to take him seriously.

"Right." Reno said, as though confirming that the other two were going to keep their mouths shut. "I got a plan, and neither of you are gonna go through with it, it's gonna be me. And if ya don't use me, you're gonna be screwed."

"Reno, only a vampire can kill Phoenix..." Rihanna interrupted worriedly. "What are you gonna do?"

"I can't tell you." Reno's gaze faltered slightly. Elena was quite shocked that Reno had suddenly gained so much energy, despite him still looking like he was knocking on death's door. He had been just resting for days now, however, so it was quite likely he was feeling a lot better than he looked. Or at least he was trying to give that impression.

Sighing, Reno put both his thin arms beside himself and slowly, but fairly steadily hoisted himself into a sitting position and leaned back against the pillows. He grimaced slightly at the pain that had probably shot through his abdomen, but he seemed generally okay.

"Reno..." Elena was almost pleading now. She knew she and Rihanna could quite easily go to Sector 6 without him, but she wouldn't feel right unless they had Reno's permission to leave him. "Please... this is what happened last time..."

"Elena..." Reno said quietly. It was odd hearing Reno say her full name, and there was a seriousness in his eyes that was rarely seen. Seeing his still ill-looking face, it was easy to feel sorry for him, and empathize. "Rihanna... please just trust me."

* * *

It was an easy enough thing to say; to plead someone to trust you. It wasn't trust that was the problem; Elena was terrified that Reno was going to get hurt again, or killed. But he was a Turk after all; they all had to risk their lives every day. But Elena was starting to get over-protective about the redhead, and worry a lot. Elena had left the redhead for the day with the words 'I'll think about it.' and think about it she had. It was all she'd done since leaving work, and she still couldn't reach a conclusion. She could understand why Reno wanted to come, but there was no way she could happily let him come along unless he could promise he wouldn't get hurt. But there was absolutely no way he could make that promise.

She knew she ought to go to sleep, but she couldn't. There was so much on her mind, she wasn't even sure which things she should be worried about and which she should just toss aside. She thought about Reno, and Rihanna... the situation they were in... and wished with all her heart that none of it had ever happened.

But even Elena knew; no matter how hard she wished, there was no way fate would make things right. They were the only ones that could make things better.

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**A/N: **And there ya have it. How was it? Let me know please!! Also, I thought I'd just mention a little important detail; when Reno says 'that exactly what he said' , he is talking about Phoenix. I know someone people have noticed, but Phoenix was in Crash and Burn, Baby (the third story in the series). Reno meets him towards the end of the story, althoug his name isn't mentioned.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **A nice long chapter to make up for my slow updating :) Think yourselves lucky. Okay, this chapter could get kinda confusing, so if you don't understand anything, don't hesitate to ask. Also, remember that this chapter is set a few days after the last one, since I needed some time to pass.

Enjoy

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Chapter 6

The next few days seemed to fly by. Reno hadn't brought up the topic of going with Elena and Rihanna to Sector 6, but that was probably because the subject hadn't been brought up in front of him at all. To begin with, there was a tension between Reno and the others, but that soon vanished. Even Rihanna seemed more and more willing to spend time with her brother. Things were looking up, apart from two matters…

For a start, Hojo still hadn't destroyed the strange material, and although Elena was convinced it wasn't affecting Reno, it would put her mind at rest if it was gone.

Secondly, she knew it wouldn't be long before the redhead brought up the subject of going after Phoenix up again. Elena was torn between two arguments in her own mind, even though she knew she couldn't directly control Reno's actions. She knew Reno was improving, because he recognized that he and Phoenix were two completely different people, although he did get confused sometimes. Physically however, he wasn't convincing her. He said he felt almost perfect, and he seemed to be able to move fairly easily, but Elena couldn't understand why he still looked like a man knocking on death's door. His bullet wound was starting to heal up, as were various bruises and cuts, but Elena still wasn't convinced. There would be no stopping him though, once he had his mind set on something…

It was when she went into work one chilly Wednesday morning when she learnt that lesson…

The wind blew sharply and Elena pulled her jacket closer to her neck. She had been wondering all morning what she would be doing all day; hoping that she wouldn't have much so she could spend the day with Reno.

Glad to get out of the cold, Elena stepped inside the Shin-Ra building and closed the door behind her. Unconsciously running her fingers through her hair, she made her way to her office to see if there had been any paperwork put on her desk since the day before. It was quite monotonous, just doing paperwork, but Elena counted herself as lucky she'd been given no missions, because she didn't really want leave Reno at the moment. She found it quite odd however, that Reno hadn't even attempted to leave his bed yet. Usually he would try even before he tried to persuade people he was better, because he hated being in the infirmary so much. But this time he'd willingly stayed in bed and let the nurses take care of him.

Elena knew there something odd going on when she was within 10 feet of her office. She could see her door was slightly ajar, and she could hear something rustling around from within. Cautiously, she stepped up to the door and opened it slowly and silently. What she saw however, wasn't the last thing she had expected, but it was still a shock.

"Reno!" the blond gasped. The redhead was rummaging around in Elena's drawers.

"Oh, hey 'Laney." Reno slammed the drawer shut and stepped around the desk to stand closer to Elena. The blonde stared at him; for some reason he was in his Turk uniform, which was a lot bigger than Elena remembered, but his hair was still matted from the many days spent in the infirmary. He looked exhausted, and Elena was certain he shouldn't be out of bed.

"What are you doing here?" Elena asked in an unimpressed tone. "You're supposed to be in the infirmary."

"Umm… they let me go for a walk?" Reno flustered slightly, then smiled. "Okay, okay… I can put up with so much but I was so freakin' bored!" he said over-dramatically.

"What were you looking for?" Elena asked keeping a straight profile. She was genuinely concerned.

"Erm… nothing. I dunno." The redhead stuttered.

"Reno. Get back to the infirmary. Please." Elena said quickly. She knew exactly what was going on, and she didn't like it.

"What?"

"Please?" she tried desperately. "Go back to the infirmary."

"No."

Elena breathed out nervously and pulled her office keys and her cell phone out of her pocket. This wasn't Reno… she needed help.

"You try to force me to stay here so you can _get someone_ and I'll break through anything you put in my way." Reno hissed suddenly. "Including you."

Trying to ignore her pounding heart, Elena quickly dialled a number on her cell phone and waited. She heard the line click as the cell on the other end was picked up.

"Rihanna?!" Elena said quickly. She couldn't keep the terror out of her voice. "Come to my office, quick."

"Elena? Are you okay?" Rihanna asked.

"Yeah, just quick." She had no time to say anything else as Reno smacked the cell phone from her hand.

"Why can't you just let it go?" he said in a livid voice. Elena had never been so scared in her life. "You know what's gonna happen in the end, so why delay it?"

"W-what do you mean?" Elena asked. Delaying was exactly what she was doing; she didn't want Reno to do anything stupid.

"I… I want to go…" his tone lightened slightly and he momentarily looked sad. "I failed to help him last time."

"Help? You mean Phoenix?"

"Phoenix… yeah. Valicia, Vanessa… all of them. I must help them." Reno fell silent… then he suddenly laughed inanely. "You don't care that much, do you?"

"You're talking nonsense…" Elena stared hard into the redhead's eyes, and couldn't help notice they were a slightly strange color, much darker than usual. "Please just listen to me… Valicia, Vanessa… they're both dead. Let me put you out of your misery."

"How? By killing Phoenix?" Reno laughed again. "Yeah, that's right. I know who I am. My name is Reno. How's that for a twist? Now let me _go_!" On the last word, Reno made a move forward and struck Elena. The blond wasn't ready for it, so his bony knuckles caught her hard right on the cheekbone. There were tears in her eyes, but not from the pain. What was Reno doing? Elena was trying to tell herself that it still wasn't Reno; that he was playing tricks on her mind. After all, if Reno was in his right mind, he wouldn't be fighting in his state, not against Elena… surely?

The blond stepped back, letting the tears fall down her face. She wasn't ashamed anymore, but she couldn't strike back. He was hurt, and he was Reno. She couldn't hit her friend. What would he do? Kill her?

"Let me go." Reno repeated bluntly. "I need to go…"

"What are you gonna do, huh?" Elena suddenly found herself shouting. "What are you achieving by doing this?"

"I want… Yuffie?" he suddenly looked at the floor, his form slumping. "She's… why?"

"Reno?" Elena stepped cautiously over to the redhead only for him to retaliate.

"No!" he shouted, throwing another punch at Elena, this time catching her on the shoulder. "This is all her fault… yet she got away… why did she leave me?"

Elena stopped for a moment; everything seemed to pause around her. She wanted to comfort Reno, but he wouldn't let her do that. He didn't know who he was at all. His sentences were mixed up beyond sense. He was so obviously confused, it made Elena want to cry for him. However, it was worrying; was it Reno that was weakening or was it Phoenix that was strengthening?

Before Reno had enough time to cause anymore damage, Elena's office door was thrown open forcefully. Elena turned quickly to see Rihanna enter, looking horrified, followed by Tseng, who had a gun in his hand.

"What's going on?" Tseng said commandingly. He held the gun up confidently towards Reno.

"You… you're just as bad." Reno hissed at his superior. "You helped them get away."

"Reno, back down. Now." The raven-haired man ordered.

"Fuck… none of you are even listenin' to me, are ya?" Reno put his arms down by his sides lazily and looked up towards the ceiling. "Doesn't matter how much you delay this, it'll still happen."

"'This'? What is 'this'?" Tseng asked. "What are you planning?"

"You… all of you must die." Reno said. His expression was so positively blank it was terrifying. "Including me. All of Shin-Ra must die."

"And you're going to do that on your own, are you?" Tseng's grip on the gun did not falter.

"We are not… alone." The redhead responded, his eyes boring into Tseng. Their raven-haired superior had seen enough, however, and fired his gun, hitting Reno in the neck. Instantaneously, the redhead dropped to the floor with a thud. Rihanna screamed and Elena was close to doing so herself, until she saw that what Tseng had fired was only a tranquilizer.

All seemed to fall silent as Elena walked slowly up to the redhead who was lying on his side, slightly awkwardly. She bent down and pulled the tranquilizer dart out of his neck and put her fingers where it was, only to find his pulse was alarmingly fast. His mouth was slightly open and his face looked so peaceful one could think he was merely sleeping. What would happen now?

"Step away, Elena." Tseng said calmly. "I'll have someone take him back up to the infirmary, then we'll have to think through what we'll do with him."

"Do with him?" Elena queried.

"He's dangerous." Tseng answered, not taking his eyes off the unconscious redhead. "Phoenix needs to be killed. This whole mess needs to be sorted out."

"You wouldn't… terminate Reno, would you, sir?" Elena asked awkwardly.

"No." Tseng said bluntly. "I've put up with too much from him for the past few years to give up on him now…" He turned to face Elena for the first time. "I'm hesitant about putting this in your hands entirely. This is an official assignment, because this has gone beyond Reno. The whole of Shin-Ra is at risk."

"Y-yes, sir." There was still the question running through her mind that seemed to have no answer. What about Reno?

"Do you think you can handle it?" Tseng asked genuinely.

"I…" Elena paused, thinking about what had happened in the past few months. Her and Rihanna had been the only ones working together to solve the mystery that went by the name of Phoenix, they were the ones that had been so closely involved with the situation. Rihanna was the only person Elena knew, other than Reno, who knew the vampire base at all. It would be a waste to back out now they had gotten so far. Elena had to do it; to prove to herself that she could. To prove to Reno.

"Umm, sir?" Rihanna piped up suddenly, her voice still shaking with fear. "Have you spoken to Yuffie recently?"

"No, why?"

"No reason." Rihanna shook her head, her smooth red hair falling over her eyes. Elena wasn't sure exactly what was going through her head, but it couldn't be good. Elena figured that Yuffie was in trouble as well, but last time she had spoken to her about Phoenix, she hadn't wanted to know. Would she this time?

"Elena, go with Rihanna to her office. Do whatever you want for now." Tseng looked back down to Reno. "I'll finish up here. I'll call in with the verdict."

Elena and Rihanna nodded simultaneously and left the office, although a little reluctantly. Rihanna looked at the blonde as they closed the door behind them and shook her head. Her expression said everything, and Elena had the feeling they both felt exactly the same way. The moment their hopes had raised, and they had thought things were starting to get a little better; everything had gotten a lot worse in a matter of minutes…

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**A/N: **There ya go. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. There was a lot of speech in it I know, but I tried to even it out the best I could :) Yes, Yuffie got yet another mention. So when will she come back into the story, I hear you ask. Well, the answer is very, very soon. Please review and lemme know what ya thought of the chapter.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: **Yay! Another chapter. I don't think this one is as good as the last one, in fact, I was in two minds whether to scrap it and start again. But whatever...

I know I seem to be dragging this on for ages, but I'm trying to get to the point, I promise! I've been doing a lot of reading over the past couple of days (I don't usually do much) so I've been inspired lol.

Hope you enjoy the chapter!

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Chapter 7

Elena looked across at Rihanna for what felt like the hundredth time. They were both sitting in the redheaded girl's office, and considering they had only been there for about half an hour, Elena was desperate to know what was going on elsewhere in the building. It didn't really help that they were doing practically nothing, and every time Elena looked across at the redhead, she was either staring into space, or fiddling with her fingernails. She hadn't said a word.

Elena needed someone to blame; she didn't know why, she just did. Someone to blame for Reno's state, someone to blame for Rihanna being upset, someone just to blame… for everything. There were plenty of people she could blame… Tseng for allowing such a thing to happen, Phoenix for just existing, herself… or even Reno. Why couldn't he have just been that little bit stronger?

Elena slapped herself mentally for even thinking such a thing. It wasn't the redheaded man's fault at all. She had no idea after all how difficult it was for him; she'd never been controlled like that, and Phoenix was a powerful person. It was Phoenix's fault, Elena made up her mind in that instant.

But then again, when Elena thought about it, Phoenix was an interesting character in the first place. It didn't matter how clever a person was, it is always extremely difficult to convincingly act out someone else's life. Phoenix however, had managed to turn himself into an incredibly likable person, similar to Reno. There was also the fact that Rihanna had once mentioned her friendship with the _real _Phoenix had only blossomed because of his likeness to Reno. Why were they so similar, yet so different? In such a situation, it was difficult for Elena not to blame both of them.

"I want to do this." Rihanna said suddenly. Elena looked up at her, slightly shaken up by the disturbance from her pensive state of mind. The redhead spoke confidently, but she didn't look up at Elena.

"The missions?" Elena enquired.

Rihanna nodded her head. "Yeah… it seems right."

"Do you think we can though? It's getting tough now…" Elena stared at the redhead, willing her to look back. But she didn't.

"We'll do it." Rihanna said determinedly. Suddenly, she looked up and her emerald green eyes stared directly at Elena. "And… Reno _will _come with us. It's just gonna take some time, that's all."

Time; the essence of any situation. It was all Elena needed. It was a shame they were so short of it. Everything always seemed to be hanging on a single moment, and what they would do about Reno and Phoenix depended mostly on what Tseng's verdict of the situation was.

Elena's heart leapt when she heard the office door behind her open. She turned to see her raven-haired superior standing in the doorway, his expression grim.

"What happened?" Elena asked quickly, her heart dropping back down to the pit of her stomach.

"You two better get over to the infirmary." He said blankly. "The tranquilizer wore off about 10 minutes ago, but he won't talk to anyone. He says he wants you."

Elena looked at Tseng, slightly puzzled. It was unlike him to not be able to get someone to talk, but she guessed Reno wasn't just 'someone.' The situation seemed to be taking its toll on Tseng as well; his hair wasn't as immaculate as usual, and Elena thought he looked slightly exhausted.

"Okay." Elena took a deep breath and stood up. She turned and smiled at Rihanna, who stood as well. Together, the three Turks left the office to see what could be made of a bad situation. They had come too far to give up on Reno now.

* * *

The atmosphere was quite clearly tense as soon as they entered the infirmary. Elena wondered vaguely whether the nurses there knew what was going on, but quickly snapped out of it. She had to focus on the task at hand; she had to talk Reno around.

She wasn't expecting the redhead to be asleep or anything like that, but for some reason it was still a shock to see him wide awake, staring straight in front of him with a livid expression in his fever-bright eyes. As they entered, his eyes flicked straight on them, and Elena found herself immediately intimidated, even though the redhead was quite helpless.

"Reno?" Rihanna said unsurely. Her brother didn't reply, but his gaze settled on Tseng, who looked slightly unsettled.

"I'll leave." The raven-haired man said, before keeping his word and taking his leave.

Now that he would be completely undisturbed, Reno settled on flicking his never-faltering gaze back and forth between the two remaining Turks. He said nothing for the first few minutes, but when he did, his words came out groggy and slurred.

"I wanna talk to Yuffie." He looked at Elena this time, and seemed to completely disregard his sister.

"I… I could call her…" Elena suggested nervously. Reno shook his head.

"I want to talk to her now…" he demanded.

"You can't." Rihanna stated bluntly, obviously trying to get a part in the conversation. "We can't do the impossible, Reno."

"Fine. Call her then. I want her here though." Reno looked down his nose at the two Turks. "So I can make her pay for what she's done. She left me when I still needed her."

"Who's talking here?" Elena spat. "Reno? Or Phoenix?"

"Stupid girl." Reno's eyes narrowed and they gained their darkness Elena had noticed on their last encounter. "I'm not deluded. You don't seem to see that."

"I see that you're confused… but I know that Phoenix hasn't completely taken over you yet." Elena stepped forwards, closer to the redhead, desperately trying to become dominant over the situation. "You know why?"

"Go on then, enlighten me, Turk."

Elena smirked; he had messed up. Reno would never say a thing like that. "You've deliberately avoided talking to Rihanna here… you're trying to get her out of this."

"You're not as dumb as these memories tell me you are." Reno grinned in a slightly unhinged way. It was disturbing to see Reno with that expression, because it wasn't him; Elena knew it wasn't. Phoenix had caught onto Reno's strengthening mind and countered it.

"You're not even bothering to pretend now, then." Elena said quietly. "I don't know whether to call you Reno or Phoenix, but whoever you are, one of you will be pushed out of that mind sooner or later…" the blond turned to Rihanna who nodded. "And we'll make damn sure it's Reno who stays."

"Who are you trying to convince?" Reno asked loudly. "Yourself? Or is it him? 'Cause I don't-"

The redhead stopped there, mid-sentence and stared at Elena with his mouth slightly open. His left eye quivered, and suddenly both began to water. He put his hand up to his face, and wiped off the tears, staring at his hands quite disbelievingly.

"Reno?" Elena moved even closer to the redhead, before looking back to Rihanna. Reno's sister was rooted to the spot, just staring at Reno, seeming to not really want to believe what was happening.

Reno however, just briefly stared at Elena with a slightly scared expression on his face, before turning over in his bed swiftly and lying down properly to hide his face. Elena just stared at his back helplessly. She noticed more than ever that although the redhead was wearing his old uniform again, it was quite a bit too big for him, and she could see his bony shoulder very clearly from the way he was laying. It was quite heart-breaking really, and Elena was completely at a loss as to what she should do. Although Elena was sure Rihanna felt practically the same way, the redheaded girl seemed not to keen to give up.

"Reno?" She walked over to the opposite side of Reno, so she could bend over and look him in the face. She put her hand on his emaciated shoulder, sighing slightly. Her brother said nothing, but Elena was sure she saw him shake his head roughly.

"Right." Rihanna stood up forcefully and so suddenly it shocked Elena. "That's it."

"What?" Elena made her way over to the other side of Reno's bed.

"We'll see you later, Reno." Rihanna ran her hand over Reno's hair affectionately. "Let's go." She added to Elena, and made to leave the room. Before the two female Turks could leave however, there was a call from inside the ward.

"R-rihanna?" Reno said. He spoke so quietly, but it was all Elena heard. He was now in a sitting position, leaning on his arms and staring at the two other Turks with a saddened expression. His eyes were red, and there were tear-stains on his cheeks. "I'm sorry." He swung his legs over the side of the bed, and pushed himself to his feet. He was slightly shaky, but he seemed sturdy enough.

"Reno, what are you doing?" Elena asked, moving closer to him.

"Give me your PHS." He demanded. Elena took the object out of her pocket, but hesitated in giving it to him.

"What for?"

"To do something I should've done a long time ago." There was a menacing tone in the redhead's voice that made Elena feel strange. She suddenly found herself handed her PHS over to Reno, despite her protesting mind telling her it was a bad idea. The redhead quickly dialled a number and held the device to his ear.

"Hey." He said down the line. Elena noticed his voice sounded odd, although she wasn't sure whether he was putting it on on purpose; maybe the tranquilizers were still having an effect on him. "Meet me outside the Shin-Ra building in half an hour… come or don't come, it's your decision… you'll find out if you come." He hung up the PHS and handed it back to Elena, who merely stared at him. He stared back, his darker-than-usual gaze never faltering.

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**A/N: **For some reason, it took me so long to get the last bit right. But yeah, Yuffie got yet another mention!! Yay!!! Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and please review!!

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	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **First, sorry this chapter is slightly shorter than usual. I went through it to try and bulk it out a little, but it didn't really work. I'm not sure why this chapter took me so long either, since I've had more than a week off school because of all the snow!

There's also a little bit of information about this chapter in an author's note at the bottom. I put it there so I don't spoil the chapter for every one!

Enjoy!

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Chapter 8**

Elena wasn't sure whether the redheaded man in front of her had any idea what he was doing, and he seemed to have no concept of the fact that Elena was following him. Reno just stood there, now outside the Shin-Ra building, looking at the buildings around them. He seemed completely oblivious of everything else.

Elena turned as she heard the entrance door open behind her and Rihanna stepped outside, looking flustered.

"What the _hell_ is the rush?" She said slightly breathlessly. "Reno?"

"Wait. She'll come." Reno put a hand up to silence his sister. He said nothing more, and returned to watching his surroundings. He didn't seem to be bothered about the two women being there, so they stood, Rihanna now closer to Elena, and watched as the redheaded man stood in silence. Elena's heart was pounding so heart she was frightened the others would hear it. She was scared about what the redhead was thinking. She thought she had an idea of whom he had called, but why he had called them was a different story. She was completely clueless.

Elena watched as a figure made its way toward the building. She couldn't see who it was at first; she could only make out the fact that it was a girl with black hair. She had a feeling that her previous suspicions had been proven correct.

The girl stopped walking as soon as she was about three feet away from Reno. Elena and Rihanna stepped closer as the girl looked up at the redheaded man in front of her, her deep brown eyes boring into him.

"Yuffie?" Rihanna uttered softly. There was a slightly bitterness in her voice.

"You came." Reno smirked down at the girl. "Do you know what's happened? I don't know what to do with you now, though…"

"R-Reno?" Yuffie said shakily.

"Caught on yet?" the redhead laughed inanely. "And to think, you didn't believe these two…" he pointed back to Elena and Rihanna. "Don't ya feel dumb now?"

Yuffie took a terrified step back and looked to the other two, before staring widely back at Reno. "I… I thought you were d-dead."

"Yeah, funny how things work out, isn't it?" Reno's eyes narrowed. "It seems to me like having the next best thing isn't good enough for the poor… little… princess."

At these last words, Reno took three steps forward. Yuffie responded by taking three steps back, but Reno just kept approaching her. Eventually, the redhead appeared to get tired of her, and grabbed her by the wrist. He pulled her around so she was pressed against him, and they were both facing Elena and Rihanna.

"Do you know how it felt?" Reno whispered quietly into Yuffie's ear, but the atmosphere was so quiet, the other two Turks could hear quite clearly. "Have you ever cared about someone, you were willing to die for them? Or were you always to wound up with your _treasure_?"

Reno hissed the last words into her ear and Elena could see his grip tighten on Yuffie's wrist.

"You may have grown up in the past few years…" the redhead carried on, talking louder this time. "But you're still the same spoilt brat you always were. Why I gave my life up for you, I'll never figure out."

"I wanted…" Yuffie spluttered. Reno was so close he was quite clearly suffocating her mentally. "I wanted to try and m-make things work between us."

"Ha!" Reno spat, finally pushing her away so forcefully that she fell to the floor. About 10 minutes before, Elena didn't think her heart could beat any faster, but it had quickly proven her wrong. It was weird to watch, because everything Reno was saying was relevant on his side, not Phoenix's. The only problem was that Reno would never show such a display of emotion if he were in the right mind. "You… I don't know what you're game was, but you were never out for me. Why… why would you just ditch me like that?"

"What are you talking about?" Yuffie struggled to get to her feet, but Reno kicked her back down.

"I'm not stupid!" The redhead shouted. Elena automatically took a terrified step back. "All it took was a little change, and you were terrified. You couldn't see the 'Reno' in me anymore! That was just you as well, everyone else managed to figure it out, how the _hell _do you think I managed with _this-" _he pointed to his blood red hair. "-back again?"

"I-" Yuffie crawled backwards, only to have Reno step over her again.

"You've only seen me once since you thought I died." The redhead carried on. "And you hated me. I could see it in your eyes."

Yuffie moved backwards so she was in a more comfortable sitting position, and hung her head. Her black hair covered her face so Elena couldn't see her expression. The young ninja shook her head slowly. "I… I don't know what else to say to you." She said truthfully.

"Of course you don't." Reno's voice suddenly lightened. "That was always your problem. Tell me, where have you been all this time?"

Yuffie looked up at him. "What?"

"While these two-" he motioned back to Elena and Rihanna. "-have been tryin' to figure everythin' out… what've you been doing?"

"I-" Yuffie began, but once again she was cut off by Reno.

"With Cloud and Tifa, I guess?" The redhead suggested. "Did I even cross your mind while you were messin' with them?"

"I'm sorry!" Yuffie suddenly shouted. "I didn't know what to do! I was too scared to come back…"

"Stand up." Reno said.

"What are you going to do?" Yuffie asked.

"Just stand up." Reno repeated his instructions patiently, and watched as the girl did as she was told and struggled to her feet. "I don't like to be taken for a fool. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just kill you now."

"I-" Yuffie hung her head again. "I don't know. I'm sorry Reno."

The redhead stared at Yuffie, who seemed to ashamed to return his gaze. Elena could see an ambiguity in Reno's expression that was unfathomable. His aquamarine eyes were boring into the girl he'd been so close to not that long ago, but there was a deep sadness in his expression that Elena didn't understand. It was quite a feeling for the blond as well; she may not have ever been previously very close to Yuffie, but she could only imagine the emotion that the two of them were currently feeling.

"Get out of here." Reno sighed. "If I ever see you again, I'll kill you."

Yuffie looked for a moment like she was going to say something, but quickly closed her mouth. Her eyes were watering, but she didn't bother trying to hide it. She breathed out heavily, and then turned away from Reno, to face Elena and Rihanna. Elena didn't want to say anything, because the situation was already way out of her hands. She merely shook her head at the young ninja, who instantaneously hurried off, breaking into a run as soon as she got about 6 feet away from them.

"Why the hell did you do that!?" Rihanna shouted suddenly. Elena jumped and stared at the redheaded girl. "What is _wrong _with you!?"

"She got what she deserved." Reno said distantly. "She's lucky she didn't die… she's just as bad as the rest of Shin-Ra.

Rihanna shook her head and made a small noise of disbelief. "You're serious about this, aren't you?" She walked slowly over to her brother and did the last thing Elena expected. She hit him.

"That is for Phoenix." The redheaded girl hissed, her face reddening. "Get out of my brother's head!"

Reno rubbed his cheek gingerly and stared at his sister. She didn't look away from him, just continued shooting him her angry glare. "The time will soon come." He said his voice was hollow. "And in the end, we'll all go down together."

Elena stared at Reno, whose face was completely blank. Rihanna backed down, and also looked up at her brother, tears in her eyes. Reno seemed completely unmoved, and merely shook his head.

"R-Reno?" Elena said quietly.

"We are showing no gratitude for the help you gave us." Reno said brusquely. Elena opened her mouth to reply, but before she could do so, Reno turned and began to walk away. For some reason the blond Turk felt too scared to shout after him. She and Rihanna merely stood, staring at his retreating figure, without saying a word.

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**A/N: **Sheesh, I dunno why the last parts of the chapters have been taking me so long recently. That last little paragraph took me at least 20 minutes to write. But yeah, Yuffie actually came back! It might not have been pretty, but at least I didn't forget about her again!

And this little bit of information I was talking about: I realize that many people are already confused, and this chapter will probably confuse you even more. I tried to make it as simple as possible, but as far as Reno goes, what he says isn't supposed to make much sense. A lot of what he says is in fact Phoenix, because Phoenix (the vampire) has part control over Reno's mind with the manipulative materia, ya see? Just to clear things up, the Reno in this story -is- Reno, and the Phoenix that was in 'Recruitment' was Reno as well. Phoenix is a completely different person, well a vampire actually, that lives in the Sector 6 vampite base. I know, I probably just confused everyone even more, but I've done my best! If you are still confused, don't hesitate to ask, and I'll answer as best as I can. Hope you all enjoyed the chapter!


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: **I got flames! It wasn't from this story, one for Memories and Regrets though :'(

Oh well... I kinda tried to move this story along a little bit, because I thought it was going a little slow. So this chapter is pretty vital. I've put in a few details that have already been said earlier in the story, just to remind you all of what's happened, but if you have a bad memory (like me) it might pay you to re-read some of the earlier chapters. But yeah, I hope you enjoy the chapter, and please review!

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Chapter 9

The next few days created a dilemma for Elena. The fact that Reno's mood changed so much in such a short period of time made it difficult for her to bring up any previous situation. Both she and Rihanna had agreed not to bring up the encounter with Yuffie again, and the fact that the redheaded man's mood seemed fairly stable for a few days was a good sign.

What amazed her though was the speed of the young man's recovery. Considering it was a shot wound, and several months of wear and tear, she would have expected it to be much more difficult to move around. For a brief time, a few days after their run-in with Yuffie, it was almost like having Reno back again for good. Elena tried to trick her mind into thinking things were back to normal, but she was struggling to enjoy it. She knew he would just drop like a stone again, and Phoenix would strengthen. More than once, Elena had thought about what might be going on in the redheaded man's head, and which way his mental battle with Phoenix was swaying.

On this particular good day, Elena had taken the opportunity to catch up on some paperwork in her office. She had dragged Reno along with her, since he was allowed out of the infirmary; she wanted to keep an eye on him. It was like the old times, with the old office and the old paperwork. Reno was always sitting opposite her with that smug grin on his face 90 per cent of the time, annoying the hell out of her. She had shouted before, and despite all they had been through, it seemed things were never going to change.

"Please, 'Laney?" the redhead moved his head down so he was looking up at Elena through puppy-dog eyes. "Please, please, please?"

"No, Reno. _Please _be quiet while I finish this." Elena frowned at Reno then looked back down to her work. She felt a little bad for getting mad at him while she had been so worried only a few days earlier, but that was how it went. That was also the way Reno wanted it to go.

"But, 'Laney-"

"Reno, for the last time, I am _not _giving you money for you to go and buy things you're not even allowed." Elena sighed and put her pen down, deciding she wasn't going to get much work done right now.

"It's not like it's illegal-"

"Beer, Reno! Beer?" Elena replied exasperatedly. "You want me to buy you beer? You're supposed to be in the infirmary."

"Okay… no beer then." Reno pouted slightly. "How 'bout candy?"

Elena smiled slightly and picked up her pen, completely ignoring the redhead. She scribbled across a few pages before he piped up again.

"Candy?" he said in a childish voice. "Candy, candy, candy, can-?"

He stopped talking as soon as Elena looked up and shot him a venomous glare. Reno smirked.

"How about-?"

Before the redhead could finish his sentence, Elena's office door opened and Rihanna entered, looking positive. Reno turned and grinned at his sister, who smiled in return.

"You okay?" She asked him.

"Good as ever… what?" Reno raised an eyebrow and stared at his sister. Elena could see a confused expression on the redheaded girl's face as she looked into her brother's eyes.

"Have… have you been crying?" She asked steadily. Reno stared at her incredulously.

"No…" he said, slightly disgustedly.

"Maybe he's tired…" Elena suggested. Rihanna took one last look at him and nodded, fairly satisfied.

"So, what you up to?" the new-comer asked, sitting on the edge of Elena's desk. The blond cut herself out of the conversation as she took a good look at the siblings. The two of them looked perfectly happy in themselves, but Elena could see why Rihanna had asked Reno if he'd been crying. There was a funny look about his face that told her that there was something wrong. His darker than usual eyes kept flicking back and forth and he looked drained, as though he had been sleep-deprived. Elena had to admit, the situation was obviously taking its toll on Rihanna as well, and probably Elena herself. The redheaded girl looked like she hadn't slept or eaten much in the past few days, but the cheerful expression on her face was always a good sign. It was always easy for Elena to forget how much everything was affecting Rihanna as well, but she was getting better.

"-I'm gonna go now…" Reno stood up suddenly. He didn't look particularly bothered by anything, and Elena hadn't been listening hard enough to hear if there had been some kind of harsh words between the two of them, but it seemed random all the same.

"… You're not supposed to be on your own." Rihanna said unsurely.

"I'll be fine… I just wanna get some air." Reno smiled convincingly and turned to Elena. The latter thought for a second, then nodded her head, even though she knew she would regret it.

"Yeah… he'll be okay, right Rihanna?"

Rihanna smiled. "Yeah, go on. I'll see you later."

"Yeah… later." Reno waved the two other Turks off and left Elena's office rather hastily. There was something about the vagueness of Reno's last line that made the blond Turk slightly reluctantly to let him go.

"Reckon he's okay?" Rihanna asked slowly, staring at the closed office door.

"Not sure." The blonde replied truthfully. "But since we're here, and he's not bugging us, why don't we carry on planning what we're going to do?"

"Yeah, okay." Rihanna got off Elena's desk and took the seat which had been previously occupied by Reno. "… you know… looking at it realistically, we're screwed."

"Why?"

"Well… according to that book we found, Phoenix is an Emerson, not a Rye."

"Yeah, so?"

"So…" Rihanna raised her eyebrows. "The Emerson's are normal vampire's… which means only another vampire could kill him."

"And we don't have a vampire on our side." Elena smiled grimly, a dawn of realization washing over her.

"Right. And do you remember what Reno kept saying before… how he thought he was the only one that could stop Phoenix?" Rihanna shook her head, as though disbelieving her own speech.

"You don't think-?" Elena paused and thought for a moment. There were all sorts of things that proved Reno wasn't a vampire; his eyes were still a pure aqua green for a start. But then the redheaded man must have something on his mind that he wasn't letting on.

"Nah… I don't know what to make of it." Rihanna carried on. "I guess we could look through some more of that book, see if we get any clues."

Completely at a loss as to what they should do, Elena agreed and opened her desk drawer where she had hidden the book. Her heart leapt to her throat however when she realized it was missing.

"It's gone?" she said lightly. Rihanna stared at her, her jaw slack.

"Gone?" Emerald eyes widened. "Where?"

"I don't know…" Elena shook her head. "There's only one person that could've taken it, because it was there this morning…"

"Reno…"

* * *

There were a lot of awkward predicaments that both Elena and Rihanna had to deal with every day, but one of the worst, in Elena's opinion, was trying to find a person when you had no idea where they were, or what was running through their head.

Luckily for the two Turks, common sense worked well for them, and luck was obviously on their side, albeit temporarily. They could hear low muttering as they approached Reno's office door, and Elena pushed the door open reluctantly, bracing herself for whatever was to come.

"You came after me then?" Reno smirked lazily as his two fellow Turks entered his office. The man was sitting in a familiar position, with his feet up on his desk, and the missing book in his hand. "That's nice to know."

"What are you doing with that book?" Rihanna demanded.

"You two are too slow. I want to end this, once and for all." Reno sniggered, his spiteful laugh ringing around the office. "The Planet is full of scum. We will drive you out."

"Drive who out?" Elena asked.

"You. Us. Everyone. Who else?" He laughed again.

"You're not making any sense." Rihanna spat. She stepped forward and pushed her hand forward, slapping Reno on the fact forcefully. "Quit… quit toying with us!" On the last word, Rihanna's hand lurched again, but Reno was too fast for her. He grabbed her wrist before her hand made contact with his face, and practically threw it back down. His sister made no attempt to lash out again.

Elena stood speechless. She didn't dare say anything, not while witnessing the sparks flying between the two other Turks. She was tempted to question Rihanna's statement about 'toying', wondering if she was talking to Reno, or to Phoenix.

Reno didn't seem to register being hit, despite his reddening cheek. After a few silent moments, he spoke again, his voice shaking.

"You are weak. My mind has no room for weak people. Take my word for it, you _will _be driven out."

"Your… mind?" Elena looked at the redhead, who promptly dropped his head in his hands, as though in pain. Could he possibly be talking about _Phoenix_…?

"Rihanna, Elena…" Reno looked up at the two Turks in turn. "Please… take me to Sector 6."

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**A/N: **Eep, that last bit was hard to write. I was originally gonna leave it at 'you will be driven out' but i figured that would get pretty confusing. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and please review! Let me know what you thought, be please don't be too harsh, I've had enough of that :)

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	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: **Okay, I have a couple of things to say about this chapter. First of all, I'm so sorry about the wait. I know it's been ages since I updated, but I have literally been swamped with work. I've been working on this a little bit each night for a while now. I was quite put-out and didn't want to update because of some nasty reviews I got, but one person really inspired me to start writing again.

Now, about this chapter. You may feel it's moving on really quickly. I know it is, but I wanted to break out of the cycle because I feel like it's been going too slowly. I tried to make it as realistic feeling as possible, and I think it's okay. I wanted to say though, if anyone is confused about anything at all, please don't hesitate to ask, as long as it's nicely. I realize that this story can get confusing, although the people I've asked say it's fine, and I'm prepared to admit that I've made a lot of mistakes in it. But that's what it's all about, and I'm certainly learning from my mistakes. One thing I would like to say though, is that it really would pay to re-read through the story/stories, if you have time and actually want to keep up with the plot. The thing about fanfiction is that you can't read every chapter straight after one another, so you tend to forget little details.

But, yeah. Without anymore interuptions, let's get down to the chapter! Enjoy

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Chapter 10

Thinking too hard about things never helps. Elena learned this very quickly as she tried to puzzle her way through what was actually going on. There were so many things confusing her at that time; why Reno was saying such strange things; why he had been treating people the way he had… but most of all what on earth she was supposed to do about it. Ever since she had found out that the newest recruit she had spent so much time with, got so close to, was actually Reno, she had spent many a day just thinking about a way to solve the problem. It was only when Reno asked Elena to take him to Sector 6 when it really hit home. She had to take a running jump into the situation, just like Reno wanted to do. Thinking things over had only got her more and more confused, and she wasn't getting anywhere. By going to Sector 6 and ending it, she wouldn't have to worry about it anymore. She may not have known exactly what she was going to do when she arrived at the vampire base in Sector 6, but she had realized know that you couldn't plan everything. She knew the facts, she knew how she had to kill Phoenix… and she had no way of knowing how to do it until she reached that crucial point… when she came face to face with the _real _Phoenix.

With Reno's words of _'you will be driven out' _already etched into her memory, Elena took that running jump. "Let's just do it." she said suddenly. Rihanna stared at her incredulously, and Reno seemed to completely ignore her.

"What?" Rihanna said, slightly breathlessly.

"Let's just go to Sector 6. Now." Elena stated. She tried to ignore Rihanna's interrogating stare, but it was hard.

"Why now? We don't know what we're gonna do yet…" The redheaded girl took a glance at Reno, then back at Elena.

"We'll find out when we get there… but we're not getting anywhere by staying here. We know what we need to know, and we're not gonna know anymore until we go to Sector 6."

Rihanna's expression softened a little but she was still looking at Elena as though she were mad. The blond could almost see her friend running the thought through her head, and mulling it over, until finally she broke the silence again. "I think you've been spending a little too much time with my brother."

"Hmm… maybe I have. And maybe it's not a bad thing." Elena couldn't help but smile, but was slightly concerned at the fact that Reno still seemed to be ignoring them, despite the fact that they were giving in to his wishes.

"I suppose I can see where you're coming from…" Rihanna carried on. "But what about Reno?"

"I'm going with you." Reno said suddenly, still not looking at either of them. It came as quite a shock to Elena that he actually responded so quickly and sternly, even though she knew that would be his reply anyway.

"Yes. I know." Elena replied. It wasn't just Reno and Rihanna that she had shocked by saying that, she had also surprised herself. _Oh well, _she thought to herself, _if I'm gonna jump headfirst into this, I might as well go all the way. _

"Are you even fit to go?" Rihanna asked, suddenly taking on a protective role. "You haven't been out of the infirmary that long."

"I'm fine. There are more important things to worry about than to make sure I feel perfect. If you wait for that, you'll be here for a long time." Reno drawled.

"I suppose so…" Rihanna bit her lip briefly. "But what-"

"You're worse than Elena… just trust me for once. I'm not a complete idiot…" Reno smiled genuinely at his sister, before turning to Elena. The blond understood exactly what he was saying, and knew that he wasn't stupid. But that didn't change the fact that there was another man somewhere controlling as much of Reno's mind as he could manage.

"I guess…" Rihanna stared at the floor slightly sadly. "I guess you're right. We don't have much of a chance alone."

* * *

Elena had been convinced, Rihanna had been convinced, and Reno didn't take any convincing at all. But all three of them knew that they weren't the only one's that had to go along with this plan. After all, they weren't the one's in charge.

Elena had no idea how Tseng would take it if they told him they were going straight into the vampire base, but they had no choice but let him know. The blond felt her heart pounding in her chest as she approached her superior's office door and knocked. Reno and Rihanna had come with her, but she had the feeling she was going to end up doing most of the talking.

"Enter." came Tseng's voice from within.

Elena grudgingly pushed the walnut door open and entered, the other two Turks behind her. Tseng looked slightly surprised to see them, but smiled anyway.

"What is it?" He asked.

"We need your permission… to go to Sector 6." Elena said quickly. She decided that she needed to carry on with her impulsive state, no matter how hard it was. "We've found all the information we need, and we know what we have to do."

Tseng didn't reply straight away, just stared at each Turk in turn, his questioning gaze boring into them. His eyes then rested on Reno, and he furrowed his brow. "What about Reno? He could turn on you at any moment. That's what the vampires want, isn't it?"

"We know. We've thought about that." Elena rolled her eyes briefly into the back of her head and sighed. "It's a chance we'll have to take."

"She's right. We won't get any where without Reno." Rihanna contributed. "When he's in his right mind, he knows more about this than we do."

Tseng merely nodded and looked thoughtful again. His expression did not let on his thoughts at all, and Elena was clueless as what he would say.

"Okay. Go." The raven-haired man said eventually. "Keep a sharp eye out… I trust all three of you to do this sensibly."

"Yes, sir." Elena smiled and nodded. She was not looking forward to what they had to do, but it was always reassuring to know that her fellow Turks were behind her all the way. "Thank you."

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Elena sat stiffly in her office, looking at the object in her hand. Reno had left his EMR in Elena's office while he and Rihanna went and prepared themselves for the mission. She didn't know why, but she was a little worried about Rihanna… maybe it was because of what Tseng had said about Reno turning on them. She already knew it could happen, but it was strange hearing someone else saying it. It had completely put it in perspective for her, and more doubt was filling her head. She couldn't back out now, not now she had sorted so much out. But maybe there was something else she could do to protect herself and Rihanna. She looked at the silver weapon in her hand, puzzling it over. That EMR was Reno's lifeline; without it, he'd be powerless… all it took was one snip of the right wire inside and it wouldn't charge at all. But no, that was silly… she couldn't leave the redhead completely defenceless, what if he ran into trouble? It wouldn't protect her and Rihanna completely anyway; Reno still had his bare hands, and Elena knew that for a man so lanky, he could really do some damage just with his fists.

Her thoughts were interrupted by her office door opening again, as Rihanna and Reno walked through it. Reno walked straight up to Elena, and held his hand out for his EMR. Elena handed it to him, looking into his smiling face, and felt a pang on guilt snap through her heart. How could she have even thought of sabotaging Reno's weapon? It was a cowardly way out of the situation, and only using Reno for what she wanted him to, rather than what he wanted. The redhead only wanted to help out after all, and it was Elena and Rihanna's responsibility to make sure he didn't do anything stupid… just like usual really, except this time the danger was very real, and much more serious.

"Are we sure we're ready for this?" Rihanna said worriedly. "I mean, we've decided it all so quickly…"

"We're ready, don't worry." Elena smiled and stood up with intent to leave the room. They couldn't both have doubt in their minds; that way it was more likely something disastrous would happen.

* * *

Elena and Rihanna had decided it best not to bring the book they had found in the library with them. All they had with them when they left for Sector 6 that day was a gun each, Reno had his EMR, and all the information that was in their head. Elena felt terrified, mainly about the fact that she knew she was in way over her head, and she didn't have a clue what was going to happen. But she had the feeling Rihanna was feeling the same.

Reno however, there was no telling what was running though his mind. It was quite deterring to walk next to an ally, not knowing whether they were about to turn and grab you by the throat, or something to that effect. His expression looked serene though, which put Elena's nerves at rest… a little at least.

The bitter wind cut at Elena's face like a sharp knife as she pulled her jacket tighter around herself. As they approached the familiar territory of the vampire base, she looked up at the sky. It might have been filled with dismal clouds and foggy pollution, but still it made Elena's heart ache to think she might not ever see it all again.

There didn't seem to be any sign on anyone as they stopped short of three feet from the vampire base. Well, Elena and Rihanna stopped, Reno kept on walking, much to the other two's confusion.

"Reno? Where are you going?" Rihanna called. "Wait for us."

Reno turned around to face his fellow Turks, a menacing flash shooting across his eyes. "Don't panic." he said in a kind voice that contrasted greatly with his expression. "There's something I have to do. I have a score to settle.

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**A/N: **There, that wasn't too bad was it? I realize it's probably shorter than usual, but I just wanted to get something put up. I hope you enjoyed it. Oh and by the way, I don't know if I mentioned it or not, but I disabled anonymous reviews on my stories, for a number of reasons. I'm really sorry if you like to review anonymously, but I really had to do it. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

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	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: **Sorry about the wait. I'm not very good at keeping up with updates at the moment! This chapter is a little shorter than usual, but it's very bulky in my opinion, so I don't think it's too short. I actually really like this update, I think it's an improvement from recent ones. I've actually been in the mood to write this recently, so I had a spare few hours to finish it today. I hope you enjoy it!**

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**Chapter 11**

"No…" Elena muttered and looked down at her shoes, feeling strangely cold inside. "Where has he gone? I knew this would happen…"

Reno had vanished so quickly that Elena hadn't bothered going after him. After he had slipped inside the vampire base, there was no way of knowing which way he would go. Elena didn't want to get herself and Rihanna lost. The blond shook her head and looked up at the redheaded girl next to her. To Elena's surprise, she was smiling.

"Don't you see?" She asked, positively grinning. "That's a good sign. He's not going after us. He's going after the vampires."

"But… that's what they want." Elena muttered. "Phoenix will think we suspected him to make Reno go for us. What if he's lured Reno to him to kill him first, thinking we'll go after him-?"

"'Lena, 'Lena - calm down. You're going far too fast here." Rihanna stepped in front of the blonde to block her view of the vampire base entrance. "I think… I think it's time we started to see things from Reno's point of view."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Elena snapped, trying to get past Rihanna to give chase to Reno. The redhead girl was not taking any of it though, and grabbed the blonde's wrist sharply.

"He's trying to help!" Rihanna almost yelled. "Don't you see that?"

"Don't talk to me like I'm an idiot, Rihanna." Elena lowered her tone. "He's going to get himself killed."

"He's got more chance than both of us put together!" Although Elena was consciously trying to calm the already heated conversation down, Rihanna didn't seem as keen. "At least he's playing an active role in this. All we've done is talk and think and think and talk… all the while ignoring how much _he _was suffering!"

"The only reason why he's got more chance than us is because you're not with him to help him make stupid decisions. You may be his sister, but I've known him a lot longer than you have. He needs help." Elena looked darkly at the slightly taller girl. Although Reno's sister had that familiar glare etched in her expression that Elena had seen so much in Reno, the girl still looked a little lost. Her slightly lanky arms were loose by her side, and her eyebrows were raised, giving her a look of desperation. Elena, however, was not going to give in to it.

"Elena-"

"Get out of my way." Elena may have been shorter in stance but she looked up at Rihanna in a dominant manner. "I'm going to help my friend."

Rihanna made no effort to stop Elena this time as she walked straight past her. Elena kept walking without looking back, knowing that her friend was staring straight into her back. She knew that she had just dealt Rihanna some harsh words, but enough was enough. She did wonder vaguely why Rihanna hadn't followed her straight away, but didn't let her mind dwell of it for too long before slipping through the dark doorway into the vampire base.

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It was just as Elena remembered; completely dark around the whole place, with a vague, unidentifiable source of light making it just possible to see. The great hall she was in was just as dismal and dirty as it had been the last time she was there, but there seemed to be new junk lying around. It only took her a few seconds of scanning her surroundings for Elena to identify the dim source of light.

Laying by the wall to Elena's left was a pile of various colored materia. Although the materia was familiar to Elena, it still seemed to emit an odd sort of glow compared to normal materia. She walked slowly over to them, her heart pounding almost in time with her hesitant footsteps, and kneeled over to examine the pile. Fire, bolt… barrier… cure… almost all of them Elena could imagine a use for, and considering she was now on her own it would be even more essential that she had as much materia as possible. She only had a cure materia, and a weak ice on her, because her magic skills were possibly not as up to scratch as they should have been.

As Elena reached over to pick one of them up, her heart leapt as she heard definite footsteps behind her. 1, 2, 3 steps… before they came to a stop. The blond could almost feel someone's eyes on the back of her head as she drew her hand backwards a little too quickly. She caught one of the glowing orbs on the top of the pile, which fell to the floor, making a sickening cracking noise at it came to a stop. Elena cringed and tried to stay as deadly still as possible, but a loud sigh behind her was too much. Crying out slightly, the blond leapt to her feet and ran, as fast as she could, down the nearest passageway.

She had absolutely no clue whether whoever the person was had followed her or not, but Elena had no desire to stop running. Her breathing ripped through her chest, so fast it was beginning to pain her, but she would not stop. It was only when a sharp cramp shot down her left hand side that she stopped.

The young lady had not been paying attention to where she had gone at all, and her current surroundings were completely unfamiliar to her. She didn't even think they'd been there all the other times they'd paid visit to the vampires. She pulled one of her own materia out of her pocket and held it up, desperately trying to peer into the darkness. Her breathing was too loud, and she was sure anyone would notice her by hearing her pounding heart. Someone could be standing two feet away from her and she couldn't see.

Suddenly, without even feeling it coming, Elena gasped for breathe and lowered herself onto the floor. She kneeled as low as she could and felt the warm, salty tears pouring down her face.

"How could you be so fucking _stupid, _Elena!" she sobbed to herself. She had argued with Rihanna, she had let Reno go… and now she was alone. Completely alone, with no inkling as to where she was.

Frantically, Elena tried to control her emotions, and breathed in and out deeply. However, the calmer she became, the surer she was that she could hear something. No, not something… someone. For some reason though, it didn't unnerve Elena. It was someone weakened, someone coughing, or gasping for breath.

As quietly as she could, Elena drew her gun from her waistband and stayed crouched low to the ground, facing the direction from which the sound was coming, and held her hand holding the materia as far out as she could. As she crawled slowly across the hard ground the sound did indeed become louder, and almost became a whimpering. Eventually, something in front of her caught Elena's eye. Something, almost definitely someone laying on the floor, came into Elena's field of vision, and she would recognize that figure anywhere…

He was still alive, she could tell from his faint, rattling breathing. Whether he was conscious however was a different story. She got as close as she could get and put her hand towards him.

"Reno?" She said, shaking his shoulder gently. When she got no response she moved herself so she was at his other side, and rolled him so he was laying on his back. She called his name again and he moaned slightly.

There was something strange about the redheads appearance, but Elena couldn't put her finger on it. His skin was very, very pale, and his tattoos looked strangely dark. Even with his eyes closed, Elena could see exhaustion etched on his features. It was a combination that was all too horribly familiar.

Suddenly, the redheads eyes snapped open, but he didn't look straight at Elena. Instead, he looked right ahead of him and struggled to hit feet.

"Are you okay, Reno?" Elena asked, grabbing Reno's right arm to steady him. The redhead nodded.

"I'm fine." he said, his voice strangely husky and quiet. He brushed off his jacket and looked around, slightly confusedly. "Where's Rihanna?"

"I- I don't know." A pang of guilt shot through Elena's chest, but she ignored it. "Reno, what happened?"

"I dunno… must've gotten caught or somethin'" Reno muttered, still not looking Elena in the eye. "Let's go."

The redhead wasted no time in heading off down a corridor, but Elena was reluctant to follow him. She was almost certain of what had just happened to Reno, and if she was right, there was a good chance she would end up dead.

'_It's just you now, Elena. Don't mess up'_

Still very cautious, Elena followed the redhead, gun at the ready, through the darkness. She couldn't help but wonder about Rihanna, and feel guilty because now, thanks to Elena's foolishness, all three of the individuals were in horrific danger.

Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. Elena had never even thought about that saying before, despite being told it various times as a child. Right now was the first time she had ever considered the value of going through with such a philosophical thing. With Reno in her sights, she was much safer than she would be in she ran off.

Suddenly, whilst Elena was wrapped up in her own thoughts, Reno stopped walking and turned around, staring at Elena for the first time since she'd found him. There was a strange glint in his eyes, despite the fact that visibility was not particularly high. Elena stepped closer to him, staring determinedly at his neck.

"Let me see it." Elena said, putting her hand forward to move his collar out of way. She was caught in the act however by Reno's cat-like reflexes kicking in and his hand snapped around Elena's wrist. The blond gasped and looked up at her companion.

"Surprised, 'Laney?" He grinned, revealing a glinting row of sharp teeth.

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**A/N: **There ya go! I hope you enjoyed it! And I'm starting to get back my cliffhanger writing ability. Cookies for people who know what's gonna happen!


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: **I do seriously feel like I've been writing this chapter forever. Cause I only have about 2 spare hours a day, I have to do my school work first, then write. The only reason why I've managed to update today is because I've been off school with a sickness bug, so I've had more time to write. I am really proud of this chapter though, I think it's good.

I hope you all enjoy!

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Chapter 12**

Elena was lost for words. All time seemed to stop as she stared at the man in front of him. Even Reno himself was still, merely grinning menacingly at her. What could she do? She couldn't run, and she definitely couldn't fight. There was only one thing she could do; talk.

"Why did you do it, Reno?" she asked him in a desperate attempt to distract him. "You let it happen, didn't you?"

"I don't know…" The redhead looked up and laughed icily. "Maybe I like it… you ought to try it."

"No… you did it for a reason…" Elena stepped backwards from Reno. "What are you planning?"

"What am I planning? Ha! Such a naïve girl you are." Reno snickered and took several steps forwards to keep Elena close to him. The latter swallowed nervously and looked up at Reno, her stalling wasn't working, but at the end of day, what was she stalling for. Nobody was coming to help her this time. The only thing that seemed to await her was her death.

"Was it Phoenix? Where is he?" Elena wouldn't give up, but Reno wasn't answering her. He just kept tracing her steps until she was suddenly backed right into a corner. "It wasn't him, was it? Why would he do it and not kill you?"

Reno laughed ever so slightly, but it chilled Elena's blood to ice. She was cowering now and Reno was still getting closer to her.

"Reno-" Elena's voice was so small now, she could barely hear it herself. "No. You're not Reno."

"I'd've thought you've picked up on it by now… even you." Reno leaned down and began talking very slowly and obviously. "I. am. Reno. I'm in my right mind now."

"No you're not!" Elena suddenly found herself crying out louder. "If you were, you wouldn't be thinking of killing me."

Reno suddenly sighed and backed off. Although his mood seemed to have changed, it wasn't so rapid as it usually was. Could that mean that he _was _actually in his right mind? "Ah… 'Lena." he shook his head. "Don't ya see? It's better off this way… all that you've been through these past few months. Wouldn't you prefer to just let it go now?"

Elena swallowed, ignoring her shuddering body. The hot tears were streaming down her face but she barely noticed. The only thing she took in was the man she was looking up at. He seemed quite emotionless now, and Elena was struggling to read him. All her time with the Turks she had taken advice from this redhead, and now she was lost. She had to make her own decision this time, and she knew that either way, there was a good chance of someone getting hurt one way or another.

"Let it go…" Reno tried to persuade her gently as he put his hand in his pocket, and pulled out a sharp looking knife. At that moment, when Elena looked at that glinting blade in Reno's hand, it hit her.

"No!" she suddenly yelled. She reached up with reflexes she didn't even know she had and grabbed the knife out of Reno's hand. The redhead looked shocked, but Elena was even more so. She hadn't expected that to work. In a desperate attempt not to ruin it now, she held up the blade and stood up as straight as she could, looking Reno dead straight in the eyes, which by now she couldn't actually tell what color they were. "I don't care _who _you are, or who's controlling whose mind. But I've known Reno for a _long _time, and I know for a fact that he wouldn't try and persuade me to give up. _'Don't act so weak Elena' _he would say to me. So no, I won't let it go!"

"What's making you hang on?" Reno asked her. He seemed genuinely confused.

"Reno." Elena said simply. "Reno is."

"I'm standin' here now 'Laney, and I'm tellin' ya what I feel. But you're takin' no notice."

"No. Because that's not Reno." Elena let her hand holding the knife hang loose as she spoke. "I know Reno's in there somewhere though. I don't know _who_ I'm talking to, to be honest, but I'll just say this. I may not be as good of a Turk as y-Reno;" Elena made a direct point of correcting herself. The man in front of her was not who he seemed to be. "But I'm damn sure I've learned a lot off him. Phoenix… you may be a genius but I can see straight through you. I'm not pretending that I can win, because I don't think I can. But now I've said my piece - kill me. But I won't go out quietly… because Reno wouldn't want me to."

"That's… touching." Reno spoke in a soft tone that was completely new to Elena. She wasn't sure if he was being sincere or not, but before she could decide, he lurched forwards, thrusting his hand towards her stomach. He caught her unaware, partly because she wasn't ready and partly because he was lightening-fast, but he only winded her. Ignoring the pain, she jumped forwards on one foot and plunged the knife forwards. Reno blocked it with his forearm, but Elena followed through with a kick to the back of his legs. It didn't seem to hurt him too much, but he stumbled, and Elena took this chance to throw an uppercut at him. Reno's head was forced backwards, and the offset unbalanced him as he fell backwards to the ground. He stood up, breathing heavily and menacingly, moving in on Elena.

"I won't give up." Elena said loudly, keeping always on the move.

"It'll be in vain if you don't achieve anything by doing this-" Reno hissed, throwing a punch which caught Elena on the side of the face.

"That's how I know you're not Reno." Elena snarled at the man as she kicked high. "You don't even know how much of an achievement I've just made."

"Hmph." Reno dodged Elena's kick and countered by grabbing her leg and forcing her to the ground. The jolt that ran through her calf muscle was painful, and she stumbled to the ground. Her unexpected fight partner started to close in on her again, but then back off quickly. He turned around and sighed.

"Where is she?" He asked.

"Who?"

"Rihanna."

Elena was about to reply, but she paused, unsure what to say. The truthful answer was that she didn't know, but for some reason she was reluctant to say that.

"Why?" she settled on.

"I want to see her one last time." He said breathlessly. "Where is she?"

"I don't know." Elena said honestly, taking the opportunity to struggle to her feet. She clutched the blade she had taken from Reno tightly in her hand and moved slightly to her right so she wasn't back right into the corner. "We had a… disagreement."

"Is she here?"

"I don't know." Elena's voice began to shake. Her heart couldn't take the trepidation of not knowing what was going to happen as it pounded in her chest.

"I have to find her." The redhead didn't even back around to Elena before walking off. Elena's hand hung loosely by her side as she called to Reno.

"Reno, wait!" she shouted. Her voice echoed through the empty halls, but the echo was her only response. The man completely ignored her and carried on walking until Elena could no longer hear his footsteps. The decision Elena made next; whether to leave Reno alone or to follow him, would probably determine the outcome of the whole situation.

To follow would be an act of dependence; the only reason she would have for doing that would be to stick near Reno, as to always know where she stood. There was no chance Reno would lead her to Phoenix, because that would be to easy. Phoenix knew Reno's every move… and Elena had to stay one step ahead.

Her grip tight on her recently acquired weapon, Elena quickly judged her position. There were three ways to go from where she was standing; right, which was where she had come from; straight on, which was the way Reno had gone; and left. For some reason, left didn't seen a very attractive way to go, mainly because Elena felt like she was just heading deeper and deeper into danger, but she had no choice.

Keeping low, she walked slowly down the corridor to her left, taking care to make as little noise as possible. For a long time, it seemed like she was walking towards nothing; there was no change to the small amount of surroundings she could actually see and she couldn't hear anything at all.

Elena wasn't sure how long she had been walking down the never-ending hallway, but all of a sudden, loud, swift footsteps somewhere in her midst. From the sound of it, they were headed her way. The blond Turk pulled herself sharply against the wall and held her knife at the ready. Quick as a flash, a figure ran past her, but Elena dropped her defensive stance as she saw who it was.

"Rihanna!" Elena cried, pushing off the wall. "Rihanna?"

"C-come on!" Rihanna shouted, motioning exaggeratedly for Elena to follow her.

"What is it?" Elena yelled but Rihanna didn't seem to register her response, she just kept running. Her heart pounding, Elena kicked into action and chased after the redheaded girl.

Eventually, after running for quite some time, Rihanna came to a complete standstill. Elena slowed gradually, and made her way to stand next to Rihanna, taking in her surroundings.

"Oh… my…" Rihanna's jaw dropped at the sight in the room they'd just arrived in.

The room was small, and just as dark as the rest of the building, yet somehow the two people there were crystal clear to Elena. One stood slightly taller than the other, with a slightly larger build. His black hair fell over his face and his scarlet eyes glinted. The smaller man grinned over at the two girls menacingly. Phoenix and Reno… it was like a nightmare come true.

"Well…" Phoenix laughed icily. "It took a while, but we got you."

"No…" Elena turned around to leave the way she came, but she felt a strong hand grip her arm. She turned back to see Reno was her capturer.

"You're not getting away now…" Phoenix hissed. Elena saw him grab Rihanna by the shoulders and force her further into the room. Elena looked desperately into Reno's eyes, which by now were blood red. He no longer had the icy expression on his face, but his gaze looked right through Elena. He may have been damaged by the control that Phoenix had over him, but Elena had to do her best to get through to him_._


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: **Wow, I updated a story yesterday, and I updated again today. I'm on fire at the moment! Anywho, this is a very short chapter compared to usual, but that was an appropriate cut-off point. It's a very important chapter though, and it's kind of a relief that I'm finished writing it. You'll see why when you finish.

Enjoy

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Chapter 13

Deja vu. Elena had been there before, her life hanging on whatever decision the redheaded man gripping her arm made. The frightened blond Turk did not break the eye contact she had with the poor man, but as deep as his blood red eyes were, he did not seem to be affected.

Elena soon realized however, that Phoenix may have been smart, but he did not understand the bonds and relationships that build between people as they grow emotionally.

"So, Elena..." the black haired vampire said lowly. "I think it would be a bit cruel to make sister fight brother, don't you?" he laughed as he pulled Rihanna towards him.

As those words slipped from Phoenix's lips, Elena saw Reno's eyes shudder slightly, as though he had suddenly become very confused. He was hearing what Phoenix was saying, and Elena could see he wasn't liking it.

"You wouldn't bite her..." Elena shouted, picking up on what she had to do. "You wouldn't dare."

"Oh... wouldn't I?" Phoenix raised his eyebrows. "Don't you fancy proving your strength against all three of us?"

"Don't!" Elena screamed as Phoenix leaned forwards into Rihanna's neck. Elena could almost feel those fangs herself, as they suck deeper and deeper into the redheaded girl, who was screaming. She looked at at Reno, whose grip on her arm tightened suddenly. The muscles in his jaw tightened and his eyes narrowed...

Just as Phoenix let Rihanna free of their embrace to fall freely to the floor, Reno pushed Elena out of the way, and shot around, lunging towards the man that had done so much damage.

Elena, who was now on the floor, preoccupied herself with checking Rihanna was okay. She was unconscious, and laying on her back with her arm over her stomach. Elena could see she was breathing, but crawled closer to her anyway, to check the severity of the wound on her neck. Before she could get there however, she was kicked out of the way by Reno.

"You leave her alone." Reno hissed to her, before being grabbed by the neck by his opponent. He seemed to understand that Phoenix was the enemy, but didn't know where Elena stood. It was quite heart-breaking actually, because all Elena wanted to do was help.

Elena fingered the knife in her pocket as she watched the fight going on in front her. Reno threw punch after punch and kick after kick at Phoenix, but he blocked and dodged most of them. It went the other way as well though, and Elena could see they were very evenly matched. She did wonder vaguely why Reno was stalling so much instead of just killing him. As she saw it, they only had a limited amount of time, before Phoenix got bored and made it so all three of them dropped dead. It was only when her finger made contact with the sharp, cold blade in her pocket that it clicked;Elena had taken his only weapon. She had thought he had taken his EMR with him as well, but there was no sign of it.

So in a way, Elena had gotten her wish. Now this battle really did depend on her actions, but she was completely blind to where her decisions would lead her. She had to get the knife to Reno somehow, but at that moment, he seemed as bent on killing her as he was Phoenix. For once in her life, she would have to go by Reno's book and be spontaneous.

As the fight wore on, Reno seemed to be getting more and more fatigued, as he gradually began dodging less attacks, and was being forced closer and closer to Elena. The young blond Turk was crouched, weapon in hand, waiting for the opportune moment. However, it was getting too late, and it wouldn't be long before Reno lost this battle.

"_For God's sake, 'Laney. Don't act so freakin' weak! Make a leap of faith!" _

Reno's voice rang through Elena's mind like he were criticizing her then and there. She wasn't even sure where these thoughts had come from, but all she knew was that she wanted to save Reno's life. And there was only one way she was going to do that.

"Reno!" she yelled suddenly, when Reno was so close she could have reached out and grabbed his ankle. The moment his attention had been caught, Elena passed the blade to him. He looked temporarily confused, but wasting no further time in doing what he had to do.

His arm shot forward so suddenly not even Phoenix had time to react. The blade drove forwards, deep into the vampires heart, and his face went sheet white. His slightly open mouth closed for a moment only to open again in a grimace as Reno pulled the knife out, and thrust it back in again. He did this several times, each time with a cry of vengeance. Elena watched in horror as blood flowed into a pool around the two men. Phoenix fell to his knees, choking slightly on his own defeat, and Reno pulled the knife out for the last time as his enemy collapsed entirely to the floor.

The redhead was breathing heavily, still clutching the knife in his blood-soaked hand. Blood had splattered all over Reno's shirt, and even his face. He didn't seem bothered though, as he began to walk towards Elena, a slightly crazed look in his eyes. Elena backed away, still crouched, very confused. The death of Phoenix was surely what should have killed all the horrific thoughts in Reno's head, as well as his vampirism. She looked desperately over at what she thought was the dead body of the man that had nearly ruined her life, and taken Reno's, and saw his finger twitch. Elena swallowed; he wasn't dead.

"_Come on, Elena. You've already done one stupid, impulsive thing today and that worked. Why break the pattern?"_

Elena looked from Phoenix, to Reno, then finally to Rihanna, and instantly made her mind. She got up slowly watching as Reno followed her every move. Then, as quickly as she could, she ran towards Phoenix, sensing that Reno was following her. As she got as close as she could to the man on the floor, she whipped around, and grabbed Reno's arm that was wielding the knife. He looked so taken-aback that he put up no fight. With all her strength, Elena pulled the redhead right next to her, then forced his hand down to drive the dagger through Phoenix's back. His hand twitched one last time, then went limp.

In silence, and slightly unsure of what would happen, Elena slowly let go of Reno's hand. The redhead's grip was still tight on the knife for a few minutes, before letting go rather shakily. His hand went up to his head. He was trembling as he looked over to Elena, before stumbling forwards. Elena caught him just in time, and lowered him slowly to the ground. He seemed to be okay physically, but he was unconscious.

Suddenly, there was a moan behind Elena, and Rihanna slowly pushed herself into a sitting position. Elena turned and smiled at her.

"E-elena?" she slurred. "What happened?"

"It's over." Elena watched as realization dawned over Rihanna's face. Her smile grew as she looked from Elena to Phoenix, but her eyes filled with concern as she looked at Reno.

"Is he okay?" she asked, stretching her arms out.

"I think so..." Elena looked down at the man that was resting on her arm. He looked more peaceful than he ever had done, and Elena couldn't help but feel strangely elated. She felt like she had finally done something good, and for once, Reno was actually going to benefit from it.

Elena lowered Reno totally to the floor and left Rihanna to tend to him. She got up and slowly made her way to Phoenix's body. She roughly pulled the knife out of his back and wiped it on his clothes. Looking at the weapon, Elena smiled grimly. That silver blade had been the one she'd had to force into Reno's stomach all those months ago when they had been fighting Vanessaa. She put it into her pocket and carelessly turned Phoenix over so he was laying on his back.

"I hate you." Elena muttered lividly. "But at least I proved something today; I'm better than you."

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**A/N: **That's it for this chapter! I am really sorry about how short it is! I wanted to make it longer, but it just wouldn't have worked. I'll try and make the next one longer. And there ya go, Phoenix is gone. It's about time xD Please review, and I'll get the next chapter done ASAP

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	14. Chapter 14

_**A/N: **Yay! Another update. This isn't the last chapter by the way, there will be either one or two more chapters, I'm not sure yet. I would have had this up earlier but my mum decided to demolish the living room, so we had no internet. But here I am still :) _

_If you're like me, and like to listen to music when you're reading/writing, go listen to a song called Consequence by The Notwist. I listened to it while writing this chapter, and I think it goes really well. It's from a movie called 'Push' which is also amazing :)_

_I saw Advent Children Complete!! Definately worth the money and the wait. I'm so happy they put so much more of the Turks in it._

_Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter. Read and review, let me know what you thought!_

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Chapter 14**

Elena knew that all three of the Turks were exhausted, but she had a slight advantage over the other two, seeing as she hadn't spent any of her time as a vampire. She looked at the two siblings below her; Rihanna was crouched down next to her brother, and was making no effort to hide the tears streaming down her face. For the first time, they were not tears of sadness nor tears of longing.

"It's over." Rihanna gasped, clutching Reno's hand. He seemed to be on the border of consciousness and unconsciousness. "It's finally over…"

Smiling, Elena reached down and put her hand on Rihanna's shoulder. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah…" Rihanna nodded and got slowly to her feet. "Just a bit tired."

Elena nodded. Her friend looked drained, but other than that she looked fine. "I'm sorry… by the way… about earlier."

"It was my fault." Rihanna looked shamed for a moment. "Just forget it. C'mon… let's get out of here before someone else decides to ruin my brothers life."

Elena smiled, and slowly they brought Reno to his feet, each taking an arm around their shoulders. He wasn't heavy, but it was awkward to walk, mainly because he was a lot taller than both of them.

Each step that they took out of that dark, dismal slum felt like a step towards heaven to Elena. In reality, she was stepping closer and closer towards the fairly normal life she had taken for granted so much. The endless days, whether they be in the blistering hot or freezing cold, where she had spent so much time with her friends. Being annoyed to breaking point by Reno, being taught by Reno… even teaching Reno some of life's lessons he had been missing… she had been desperately missing it all. It was funny to think how long it had actually been since Elena had lost all of that… long before Rihanna had shown up… when Reno was dwelling in his past with his family and Vanessa. It seemed almost too good to be true that maybe this was all over now, and Elena couldn't get rid of that little bit of doubt that was in her heart.

Not a word was said as Elena and Rihanna struggled with their semi-conscious comrade. Eventually they made it out into the cool, crisp air and Elena took a deep breath. The two women seemed to silently agree to take a break, and carefully put Reno down so his back was leaning against the wall. In the sunlight, both brother and sister looked a lot worse, and Elena guessed that she probably did as well.

Rihanna sighed and slid down the wall to sit next to her brother. Elena couldn't help but notice that Reno's breathing seemed a lot steadier. Sighing, Elena looked up at the sky.

"So… we did it, huh?" Rihanna said loudly. Elena smiled; just hearing those words made it all seem so much more real.

"Yeah… we did." the blond woman replied. She looked out at the sky and did not turn back around to face her two friends. "We made it difficult for ourselves though… I guess we'll never be the Turk that Reno is…"

Rihanna laughed warmly. "We still did it though. Reno will be proud… I know it."

"I am proud." Reno's voice rang out and warmed Elena's body like the first rays of morning sun. She turned to smile, and found herself looking straight into Reno's deep aqua eyes. For the first time in many months, they were filled with happiness. "But who'da thunk it?" his voice lowered into it's usual drawl. "Me being saved by the rookies? Whatever next…"

Rihanna laughed and tapped Reno on the shoulder lightly. While the two of them sat laughing, Elena looked on, positively high on the emotion of the moment. It didn't take long for Reno's eyes to meet with Elena's again, and all traces of laughter vanished from his face. He made like he wanted to stand up, and with Rihanna help, he was quickly on his feet. Elena swallowed in anticipation as he walked slowly up to her. He smiled sincerely and gently put his arms around her shoulders, pulling her into an affectionate embrace. Elena leaned into him, but did not hug back. She was paralysed by so many emotions, her mind was confused. The redhead leaned closer to her and whispered into her ear.

"I'm sorry, Elena." he said softly. Elena bit her lip, desperately holding back the tears. "Thank you."

It was suddenly all too much. The blond Turk buried her face in Reno's chest, her hand clutching at the fabric of his torn shirt. Her tears mingled with the blood that covered his clothes as she cried into him. Her sobs were uncontrollable, but Reno didn't say a word, just pulled her closer. His arms seemed to make the entire outside world vanish, and all that existed were the two friends. After what felt like an eternity, Reno pulled away, and held Elena by the shoulder's, looking at her seriously.

"You have to get out of here." he said. His voice was rough, but Elena knew to listen to him.

"What do you mean me?" she wiped her eyes, and looked up at the redhead. His expression didn't change, but he was no longer looking at Elena. His gaze was cast out to the gray sky beyond.

"Take Rihanna, and run." he answered quickly. "I have to make sure nothing like this ever happens again." he took something out of his pocket and stared at Elena. The latter did not do as she was told however; she just stared at the redhead.

"I'm not leaving you." she said determinedly. "Not now."

"Well, fine then." Reno laughed knowingly. That laugh was nowhere near as hollow as it had been for many months, but it was still weak, which made Elena reluctant to leave him to whatever stupid plan he had. "But ya might wanna go back to a safe distance. I'll see ya back here, promise."

"Reno!" Both female Turks shouted at the same time, but it was too late. Reno ran back towards the vampire base, but instead of going inside, he put his foot on one of the bricks on the piles of rubble outside and hoisted himself up. Brick by brick, he climbed up the building. Rihanna looked like she wanted to run after him, but Elena pushed her back with her arm.

"I think it's time we both listened to your advice." She smiled. "He knows what he's doing."

Rihanna nodded and they watched as Reno finally made it to the top of the building. It definitely did not look safe, but Elena was sure he had been in tighter fixes. After a few seconds, he vanished from sight as he began to make his way across the roof.

Minutes passed, and they saw no sign of the redhead returning. But after a few minutes, terror shot through Elena's heard as there was a loud bang, causes the whole ground to shudder. Moments later, flames began to engulf the building, pulling it to the ground. Elena felt Rihanna flinch beside her.

"He blew it up…" she said. Her voice was empty; apparently her fears were the same as Elena's.

"Quite a sight, ain't it?" came a voice from behind them. Both Turks turned to see Reno standing there casually, with a cocky smirk on his face. Elena saw his previously missing EMR was in his hand. He must have been back to get it. "Courtesy of my dear partner, Rude. How is he, anyway?"

"Reno…" Rihanna ran at Reno and wrapped her arms around him tightly.

"Okay, c'mon…" Reno cringed. "Don't ya think that's enough emotions for one day?"

Elena nodded and patted Rihanna on the shoulder. Come on. Let's get back."

It was funny though, despite what Reno said, Elena knew they were all reluctant to let that moment end. She was concerned though, and she knew they needed to get back. Although Reno was putting on a tough front, she could see in his eyes he was pained, and his non-stop exhaustion for several months was probably taking it's toll as well. They all needed to be checked out though anyway.

It was only on the slow walk back to the Shin-Ra building that the reality of the whole thing sank in for Elena; mainly because of the aching that wracked her limbs from all her previous exertions. It was such a rush just to be able to walk next to her allies in the knowledge they were walking back to their previous, normal lives as Turks. Well, as normal as it could get with Reno back to his old self.

There was one thing that crossed Elena's mind though, as they entered through the front doors of the Shin-Ra building. She felt like all her efforts would be in vain in a way, because no doubt now Reno was in his right mind, he would continue with his relationship with Yuffie. Elena didn't want to bring it up, because of the small glimmer of hope she had in the back of her mind that he had forgotten her. It was the wrong thing to do, Elena knew it, but she found herself suddenly wanting Reno to herself, despite her lack of interest in him before.

As they checked in with the doctor, Reno was taken straight into another room. Elena figured they must have remembered him from last time, and seen it as an opportunity to pin him down until he was actually better. Other that than, it was mainly Rihanna that needed looking over, as she had been bitten by Phoenix. A nurse looked straight at her neck before frowning and turning to Elena.

"That's two of you that have been bit." the nurse said in a slightly mothering tone. "Have you as well?"

"No. I'm okay." Elena said smiling. The nurse furrowed her brow then turned back to Rihanna.

"How do you feel then? Feel dizzy or light-headed at all?" she asked. Rihanna shook her head. "Right okay then. That's just gonna need stitched. It's quite bad… do you have any other injuries?"

"No. Nothing serious."

The nurse made a loud tutting noise then turned to her desk, presumably to get the equipment needed for stitches. Elena took this temporary silence as an opportunity to speak.

"Where have they taken Reno?" she asked.

"Hmm?" The nurse looked up from what she was doing. "That bloody redhead is the bane of my life. He won't stay put…" she seemed to be taking out her frustration on Rihanna's stitches, causing the latter to flinch slightly. "Anyway, they've just taken him back to the ward. He'll probably need stitches as well, but his main problem is… well, we saw mild malnutrition, dehydration and general exhaustion last time he was in. Basically signs of a long-term neglected body. Don't worry though, he'll be fine."

"How long will he be there for?" Rihanna asked. Elena already knew the answer to that; as little time as he could get away with.

"Not long." the nurse answered, finishing off Rihanna's stitches. "He just needs to be checked over mainly. If he's generally stable and okay, he can go home. Plenty of bed-rest for him, mind you. But I suppose you'll make sure of that…" she shot an amused look over at Elena, who smiled back. It was only half-heartedly though; she wasn't sure whether she would have the opportunity to look after him now.

After the two of them had been checked out and allowed to leave, they went straight to Reno's ward to see him. He was laying down, and Elena thought he was asleep, but as soon as the two of them entered, his eyes snapped open. He smiled as soon as he saw them.

"We can't stay. We have to go see Tseng." Rihanna explained. "We just didn't want you to think we'd forgotten about you." Reno nodded his head. "We'll come see you later, okay?"

At those words, Rihanna ran her hand down her brothers cheek lovingly, and left the room. Elena stayed for a few extra minutes though, certain thoughts running through her head. If she didn't say anything now, she might be too late when Yuffie came back into the picture. Sighing, she leaned down and put her arm over Reno.

"What's up 'Laney?" he asked innocently. Elena sighed again and moved closer to Reno's face. She swore she could see his muscles tense as she put her lips to his ear.

"I love you, Reno." she whispered. Not waiting for a reply, she made a swift exit and hurried to catch up with Rihanna.

* * *

_**A/N: **Huzzah! Relena fans rejoice; Elena finally said something. To be honest... I dunno why I even made the earlier stories RenoxYuffie, and hate that pairing. Anyway, that's for the next chapter! :)_


	15. Chapter 15

_**A/N: **Yep, I'm pretty sure there will only be one chapter left after this. I've got it sorta planned out in my head, but I'm not exactly sure how I'm gonna end it yet. _

_Thanks so much to everyone who has reviewed! I really couldn't do it without you guys, you're great! Keep up the good work and lemme know what you think! :)_

_Enjoy!_

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Chapter 15**

Part of Elena wished she'd stayed and seen Reno's reaction. For her to say the words to him meant so much to her, and she hoped it meant the same to him. Unfortunately, she couldn't shake the feeling that very soon she would be extremely disappointed.

What was harder to come to terms with however, was the fact that there was no longer a rush to for Elena to spend time with her redheaded friend. She was desperate to be with him all the time, despite the fact she knew he would still be there whenever she needed him. She was so used to having the mind set of 'I might leave and not see him again.'

Eventually, after Elena broke out of her trance-like mindset and realized she'd walked past her office, she backtracked and opened the door. Rihanna was already there, sitting at her desk, drumming her fingers on the table. Elena looked out of the window, noticing the curious weather. Rain was beating against the glass of the window in an almost rhythmic way, but it looks almost like the sun was trying to burst out from behind the dark clouds. Rays of light beamed down on the houses in the distance, creating, in Elena's opinion, what looked like a celestial scene from a movie.

"What took you so long?" Rihanna asked cheerfully.

"Just had a word with Reno." Elena smiled and sat down as well and tried to hastily change the subject. "It's weird to think this is all over, isn't it?"

"Well, hopefully it is." it almost tore Elena's heart to hear someone say those words. It _was _over; she knew it. "And if Tseng wants us to do paperwork on this, he can-"

Just at the wrong moment, Elena's office door opened, and in came a rather disgruntled looking Tseng. Their superior closed the door behind him and looked seriously at the two young Turks.

"So, you made it back." Tseng looked at his watch. "In surprisingly good time. How did it go?"

"It went well." Elena nodded and looked at her boss rosily. "Phoenix is dead. Reno is back to normal."

"Good." Tseng looked slightly less tense as he looked over at Rihanna. "Reno's in the infirmary, I've just seen him. I assume you two are both okay?"

"Yes, sir." Rihanna nodded shot Tseng a look of pure elation.

"Good." he repeated. "You'll be glad to know there's no missions going at the moment. I won't make you do any work. You can stay here so you can visit Reno if you want to. Also, I'll need to sort out the matter of how much time Reno will be having off work."

"Don't you think that's kinda… unimportant?" Rihanna said bluntly.

"That may be, but unfortunately it's still company regulations. Besides, knowing Reno he won't be having much time in that infirmary anyway."

Elena smiled. It was funny how even though the redhead was completely unpredictable, and nobody could claim to really know him, there was always certain little quirks that everybody knew about. Everybody knew his limits, however far out they may be, and tended to oblige to them. Unfortunately for Reno, the amount of time he spent in the infirmary was something Tseng would not reason with him with. Anybody hurt on a mission would be in the infirmary until they were well, and it Tseng's eyes that was a rule everybody should abide by.

"Right. We'll wait a while to give Reno a chance to recover, then we'll establish where we stand. Hopefully it's a long way behind us already." Tseng smiled at the two Turks, before making a swift exit from the office. For once, even though the two female Turks were left alone, the friendly, social atmosphere did not leave the room with their departed company.

"How far do you think this is behind us now?" Elena asked seriously. Rihanna just sighed and continued drumming her fingers on the desk.

"Hopefully a long way south." she said eventually. "So, to the most important thing now; Yuffie."

"What?" Elena's heart dropped to somewhere near the bottom of her stomach.

"Don't look so worried." Rihanna laughed heartily. "You're so easy to read. I know the way you've been looking at Reno."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Elena looked away from the redheaded girl, her cheeks quickly reddening. _Damn it_. Elena cursed herself silently. Rihanna would not stop now; she'd blown it. She didn't receive a reply, but even though she wasn't looking she knew Rihanna was smirking. The blond distracted herself by looking back out of the window. The rain had stopped and the sunlight seemed to have been successful in beating back the clouds. There was a large patch of blue in the sky now, and the Elena could almost feel the heat from the sun warming her exhausted body.

"Don't worry…" Rihanna said eventually in a strangely quiet tone. "I'd rather see you with him. I'm not sure if I could forgive her for leaving Reno like that. She never helped once, not like you did."

Elena laughed, suddenly uncaring of her flushed cheeks. "You're too similar to Reno." she sighed. "But do you think Reno will have the same attitude to this as you do?"

"You just answered your own question." Rihanna looked over at Elena smugly. "If Reno has any sense, he won't feel anything for Yuffie. Between you and me, before all this kicked off, I was pretty sure they were going nowhere."

"Hmm…" Elena considered this idea for a moment, unsure of whether it was truthful or not. She wouldn't put it past Rihanna to say something like that just to make her feel better, but in a way, she could where she was coming from. Reno was not stupid, and even though he hadn't been himself for several months, she thought he would be able to see through Yuffie. "What do you think… are the chances Reno has forgotten Yuffie? I mean… his mind was so fragmented…"

"I know what you mean…" Rihanna sounded thoughtful. "I just don't know… I'm guessing you don't want to bring it up with him for that reason?"

Elena nodded slowly. She could sense the contemplative tension that suddenly filled the room as Rihanna thought the problem through. Suddenly, her eyes widened and her expression lit up. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Elena asked. The two of them stood up and Rihanna headed towards the door.

"We're going to solve the last of our little problems."

* * *

Elena followed Rihanna as she hastily made her way back to the infirmary. Elena's heart was thumping as she practically power-walked down the halls. Surely Rihanna wasn't just going to go and ask Reno? Elena felt a little embarrassed actually, in regards to the words she had left the infirmary on before. Rihanna came to a harsh stop outside the window to Reno's ward, and the two of them peered in. Inside, Reno was still laying in his bed; Elena noticed the canula in his hand. Next to his bed Rude was sitting, talking to him. Elena smiled just as Rude looked over at them. Before any reaction could be made Rihanna held her finger up to her lips in a shushing motion. Rude nodded and turned back to Reno.

"Just wait outside for a minute." Rihanna said. "Trust me. I'll sort it."

Elena did as she was told and watched as Rihanna entered the room. She moved closer to the window, thankful that she could hear what was being said.

"Hey, Reno." Rihanna said kindly as she moved in next to Rude. "How are you feeling?"

"Spectacular…" Reno muttered sarcastically. Elena watched as he lifted his wasted hand and leaned forward to pat his sister on the shoulder. "How're you?"

"I'm fine…" Rihanna put her own hand on Reno's and smiled. "I'm really proud of what you did today, you know. So is Elena."

"Thanks." Reno smiled weakly.

"Reno…" for some reason Elena could tell by Rihanna's tone that she was about to start the serious conversation. "Is there anyone you want me to get for you? You haven't really seen anyone properly in a long time… it might pay for you to speak to the people you really care about now."

Elena saw Rude smile knowingly as Reno muttered something inaudible. Rihanna lifted his chin with her index finger and his eyes drooped wearily. "I want… 'Lena."

Elena couldn't help but crack a smile. Slowly, she walked into the ward, and Reno's eyes shot open, staring at where she had just entered. He had chosen her. Either that, or he _had_ forgotten about Yuffie. Elena doubted however that his mind could have been that tortured to completely blank one person from his memory.

"'Lena…" he sighed lowly and rested his head steadily on his pillow. Rihanna laughed lightly, and she and Rude got to their feet.

"I think we'll be going." Rude said amusedly. "I'll see you later."

Reno's eyes were closed, but Elena could see them flicking back and forth through his closed lids. His open mouth gave the impression he wanted to say something, but the words didn't come. Slowly, Elena leaned towards him.

"Reno-"

Before she could say another word, Reno's hands shot behind her head. With reflexes surprising for a man of his condition, he pulled her forwards until his lips met hers. Elena couldn't explain the electricity that ran down her spine as he embraced her passionately. If it wasn't for her arm resting on the side of the bed, she was sure she would've fallen over. His tongue flicked into her mouth quickly, before he pulled away. Elena looked at him, her face inches from his.

"Did that do something' for ya?" Reno asked, smirking, looking at Elena's white knuckle grip on the side of the bed. Elena let go and pulled away, grinning. She really did have him back...

* * *

_**A/N: **There ya go! Reno and Elena finally share the love! The whole ElenaxRenoxYuffie triangle I have going on will be solved in the last chapter :) Hope you enjoyed reading._


	16. Chapter 16

_**A/N: **Yay! Finally the last chapter! I would have had this chapter up a while ago, but this website is hating me at the moment :) Anywho, this update took me SO long, and it's really long. I'm also really proud of it though, so yay! I checked this one through pretty thoroughly, because I've been told I have a habit of giving people the wrong gender ^^; _

_Oh yeah, just a warning. This chapter deals with some pretty sensitive stuff. _

_Hope you enjoy the last chapter! Lemme know if you liked it! Thank you much everyone for all your reviews, not just for this story but for all the others in the series. I wouldn't have managed to finish this without you, I love you all!!!_

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Chapter 16**

Elena felt elated for hours after her encounter with Reno. She had left him alone to sleep, but he had been on her mind the whole day. She was exhausted herself of course, but she couldn't sleep through the ambiguous feeling of excitement and worry that pumped through her veins.

And so it seemed that sitting in her office was what she was destined to do for the rest of the day. She couldn't go home, because the idea of being able to go and check up on Reno whenever she wanted was the only comfort she had. She tapped her fingers on her desk, and restlessly looked over to the other occupant of the room. Rihanna was asleep on her chair, with her feet on the desk, crossed at the ankles. Her hair was messy from her previous struggles, and she was covered in blood, dirt and bruises, but this was obviously the last of her troubles as she breathed heavily and steadily. She moaned slightly in her sleep and flicked some of her thick fiery red hair that was so like Reno's out of her eyes. Elena smiled and left the office as quietly as she could.

She knew it wasn't as though Rihanna didn't care about Reno; that was the last thing she thought. But the poor redheaded girl hadn't had a break from pain for her whole life. Since she was very young and had been separated from Reno, Elena knew her life had been very unsettled. Even after she had found Reno again, there hadn't been a time when they weren't being pestered by the knowledge of the vampires that wanted nothing more than to kill them. Elena guessed that now Rihanna could finally see a light at the end of the tunnel, all she wanted to do was rest.

Elena however, was too worked up. She had already been back and forth from the infirmary at least 5 times since Reno had kissed her. Not to actually talk to Reno, but to just look at him from outside, to make sure he was okay. Every time he had been sleeping peacefully, not moving a muscle. The silence and delicacy of the whole scene made Elena's spine tingle. This time however, was different.

He was crying. There was no one else in the room with him, and Elena could hear him sobbing quietly as she stood just outside the door. She might not have been very close to him, but she could see tears running down his gaunt face from closed eyes. Elena breathed deeply, as it seemed she had previously forgotten to do so, and sat down on a seat that was outside. What should she do? She knew Reno very well, and she knew if she went in there, he would snap. He didn't like people to see his weaknesses…

'_But what if there's something really wrong?'_

He'd been through a lot in the past few months, and perhaps it _was _nothing serious. After all, everyone has to purge their emotions. It could be like a catharsis to him. Elena buried her head in her hands. The guilt of not going to comfort him was unbearable, but she couldn't do it.

"Elena?" The blond looked up, hoping her emotions didn't show too much on her face. She watched as Rude made his way over and sat next to her. "You okay?"

"Yeah…" Elena said quietly. She didn't know what to say, she didn't know whether Rude had caught sight of Reno or not.

"You know, Reno seems to be beating himself up a little about this." he said suddenly. Elena looked up at Rude.

"What do you mean?" A thought suddenly shot through he head. Rude had been talking to Reno earlier when she and Rihanna had arrived, but nothing had been said about what it was about.

"I don't know." Rude said, looking down. "He wouldn't really say much to me. I think he's blaming a lot of this on himself…"

"But it's all over!" the blond said, louder than she'd anticipated. "He can't beat himself up now…"

"I know, that's what I've been trying to say to him. He won't listen though." the bald Turk paused for a moment. "Just letting you know though. It's probably just a blip. He's been through a lot."

"Yeah… you're right." Elena nodded, trying to reassure herself.

"Incidentally, he asked me to do something for him." Rude said. His tone of voice suddenly became a lot less positive. "I've called Yuffie over."

Elena could have sworn that her heart did actually stop for a moment. She felt sick, and the air seemed to become hard to breathe. "W-what?" he voice was faint and far away.

"I'm sorry, Elena." Rude shook his head, looking saddened. "I don't know what he wanted to see her for. But she should be here in a minute."

The shock was worsened by the fact that everybody seemed to know her feelings for Reno. Had she been that obvious? She felt like fate was mocking her, as momentary worst rival came closer and closer to the man she was in love with, and there was nothing she could do about it. If Reno did chose Yuffie in end, there was nothing she could do about it. All she wanted in the end was for Reno to be happy.

Right on cue, the silence was broken by footsteps clacking on the tiles, getting louder and louder by the second. Elena did not even dare look up, until the footsteps came to a stop about three feet from where she was sitting. She could feel eyes burning into her, until she gave up and lifted her head.

Elena could not understand how one person could look the same, yet so different at once. Yuffie's ebony hair still fell a little way over her dark brown eyes, but those eyes looked so empty. Her expression was completely emotionless.

"Elena…" she said lowly. The blond just stared at her and stood up quickly.

"Go and talk to him." she said sharply, opening the door to Reno's ward. Yuffie said nothing else, and did as she was told.

"Elena…" Rude grabbed Elena's arm with a strong hand before she could follow Yuffie. "Wait out here…"

As unappealing as that idea sounded, Elena obliged. Rude was probably right anyway. Whatever Reno wanted to say to Yuffie, he had the right to say it in peace. She could hear muffled voices, but after a few minutes, Elena knew she didn't need to be in the ward to know what was going on.

"… I didn't know what to do." Yuffie said, her voice raised. "I've never dealt with anything like that before. What did you want from me?"

The voices hushed again, but only for a few minutes, after which the ward door slammed open, and Yuffie walked out, tears streaming down her face. She said not a word to the two Turks sitting outside, and made her way back the way she came. Although Elena couldn't help but feel bad for the poor girl, she figured that this looked good on her part. She stood up and wasted no time in going to see the man she loved.

She didn't know what she expected when she walked in on Reno that time, especially after she had seen him crying merely minutes beforehand. But this silent stare from bloodshot, fever-bright eyes made Elena hesitate.

"Reno?" she said worriedly. "Are you okay?"

"Elena…" The redhead sighed and closed his eyes. "I just told Yuffie I couldn't be with her…"

"I know…" Elena smiled to herself, even though Reno couldn't see her.

"I'm sorry, Elena." The tears started again and his eyes opened, looking straight through her. "But you gotta leave me behind as well…"

Elena suddenly became aware of how dark it was in that room, and how small and secluded it seemed to be. The words that had just come from Reno's mouth took a moment to sink in and she didn't want to react in case she had gotten the wrong impression.

"Please, Elena… say something." the redhead's voice sounded frail. Elena noticed him fiddling with the canula on his hand. She had no idea what was on the drip next to him, but the bag looked strangely empty.

"Okay, Reno…" Elena tried to smile, but couldn't. She stood up and ran her hand down the side of Reno's face, knowing that it was probably the last chance she would get to touch him. Her hand was shaking as her fingertips brushed his soft, white skin. "All I want is for you to be happy… and if it makes you happy…"

Reno took Elena's hand in his and kissed it softly with shaking lips. No tears left his eyes, but he looked completely empty. Elena did not know what to say to him.

"It's not me that matters 'Laney…" he whispered, his eyes closing slowly. "It's you."

"I love you, Reno…" The blonde's voice sounded almost non-existent to her, but she was sure Reno had heard him. He let go of her hand, and laid down peacefully, his head tilted backwards slightly, his eyes closed. The expression on his face was hard to figure; as though his heart was torn between torment and relief. Elena ran her hand down his delicate cheek one last time, and drifted out of the ward.

She hardly even heard Rude as he stood up and rushed over to her, making sure she was all right. She just nodded and put her hand to her head, trying to get her mind to function properly again. She was only just aware that Rihanna seemed to have ventured out of the office, presumably about to check up on Reno herself.

"I… I wanna get out." she muttered simply, and at that took off as fast as she could to get away from Rude and Rihanna… away from Reno. She didn't even stop long enough to see the two Turk's confused stares.

* * *

The wind was cold and sharp on Elena's cheeks, and stung her already bloodshot eyes. She stood there, just outside the Shin-Ra building, but she felt like she was miles away from any civilization. She couldn't even take in any of the sights or sounds surrounding her, because her mind was too busy. Thoughts of the past hour or so were constantly fleeting through her head as she tried to put the pieces together.

'_It's not me that matters 'Laney… It's you.'_

It was such an odd thought, but for some reason Elena felt she had just said goodbye to someone forever. The thought that she would see him everyday at work was for some reason no consolation. She now knew what it was like to have her heart broken.

"Elena…"

The sorrow that filled Rude's voice as he called her from behind made her never want to turn around. After a few moments though, she heard a soft sobbing, and could not help herself.

"R-Rude?" she said quietly. The bald Turk was standing nearby, with Rihanna next him. The redheaded girl had her hand over her face, but she was quite clearly crying her heart out. Her shoulders shook uncontrollably as she wept. Rude didn't look too happy either, but he had his sunglasses on, so it was difficult to see his emotions.

"The nurse just spoke to us." Rude said, his voice shaking tremendously. "Reno just… his body just… g-gave up. She said he'd been fiddling with the m-machine attached to his drip… he ended up with about a 50-fold overdose of the p-painkiller he was on."

At that moment, the only noise Elena was aware of was Rihanna's gentle crying. Her mind seemed to completely lose all function, until she managed to gather the nerves together to speak.

"P-please… tell me h-he's not-" she stuttered. She felt extraordinarily faint all of a sudden.

"They managed to resuscitate him." Rude explain, his voice lightening ever so slightly. "I'm not sure if he's stable yet or not… we came straight out to tell you."

"I-I never even spoke to h-him b-before… I c-could've lost him." Rihanna piped up.

"It's okay…" Elena said, both to herself and Rihanna. She walked over to the redheaded girl and put an arm around her. "Let's go."

Never before had Elena remembered the route to the infirmary being so long. Guilt engulfed Elena like an ocean crashing over her, suffocating her.

'_I should have realized…'_

Her own disappointed voice rang through her head as her footsteps pounded on the tiles below her. She had been foolish… she had noticed the drip next to Reno, and the fact that it had been too empty. If they were any later in finding out, Reno would have been gone. And if Elena had have said something in the first place, they probably could have sorted it before any damage had been done.

But she hadn't. She had stayed silent, and left Reno… too wrapped up in her own selfish depression. As she had stood outside crying, Reno had been seconds from death's door.

When they arrived at the infirmary, the inevitable happened.

"I'm afraid I'm going have to ask you to wait here." a preoccupied looking nurse said. "They're busy with the patient in that ward."

Apparently, at that moment it wasn't going to take much for Elena to see red. "Listen. You don't let us in there, and you'll regret the day you ever decided to become a Shin-Ra nurse…" she hissed at the woman, who looked astounded. She felt Rude's and Rihanna's eyes on the back of her head as well; evidentially, she had surprised more than herself.

"I already do, love." the nurse sighed and stepped back to let the three of them past. Elena's strange sense of pride soon melted however by the sight before her.

Reno was lying in the exact same position as he was when Elena had left him, even with exactly the same expression on his face. Chances were, Reno was already at his near-death experience when Elena had left the room, a thought which didn't make Elena feel any better. He looked like he was still near death's door, his skin even more ghostly white than it had been before. His drip had been replaced with another unknown clear liquid, and there was a tube going through his nose into his throat. It was clear he wasn't conscious as a doctor next to him lifted his withered wrist to take his pulse.

"D-did he do this o-on purpose?" Elena asked. The doctor looked up.

One would think." he said, nodding grimly. "He tampered with the drip. He wouldn't have done that unless he wanted to do _some _harm to himself."

"He… he tried to kill himself." saying those words out loud made it so much more real to Elena. "B-but… why?"

"I wouldn't like the say." The doctor jotted something down on his clipboard and slotted it back in place at the bottom of Reno's bed. "His vitals seem to be returning to normal though. He's a very lucky man." at that, the doctor double-checked Reno's drip, before leaving the ward.

"Why…" Rihanna moved forwards and kneeled on the floor, her arm resting across Reno's shallow stomach. "Why did he do it…?"

"Elena…" Rude turned to the blond Turk seriously. "What did Reno say to you before you went outside?"

"He… he told me I had to leave him b-behind." Elena said quietly. "That he couldn't be with Yuffie, and he couldn't be with me either."

"He did do it on purpose then…" Rude whispered, looking up suddenly. "But at the end of everything… when it's all been solved. I wonder why?"

"His mind has been tormented." a voice from the doorway said lowly. All turned to watch Tseng as he moved further into the room. "I just heard the news. Is he okay?"

"He's stable." Elena said dully. "And what about his mind being tormented?"

"His mind has been tormented for the past several months, and he hasn't been acting of his own accord. I suppose one might say it's a good sign; now his mind is his own again, he can't seem to cope with the shock. He needs help."

"I see." Elena muttered. What Tseng was saying made sense, but he had seemed so happy to start with. Maybe after the rush of being properly united with his closest friends again had gone, he had dropped. After all, what goes up must come down.

"Don't worry. He will be okay. I'll ensure he gets help once he's physically recovered." Tseng said. Elena smiled at him gratefully.

"Thank you, sir."

"Right…" Tseng suddenly looked over to Reno and smiled. "I'll leave you to get on with it then."

Elena looked over at Rude as Tseng left the ward, but the bald Turk looked just as confused as she was. It was only when she looked back over at Reno and Rihanna that she realized. Reno's hand was creeping slowly towards Rihanna, who wasn't looking at him. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it, causing the redheaded girl to look up finally.

"Reno?"

A small smile formed on Reno's weak face and his eyes flickered open. "Hey." his voice was croaky.

"Reno…" Rihanna moved up closer to Reno's head and hugged him as tightly as she could. "I thought I'd lost you."

"_I'd_ thought I'd lost me." Reno said in a barely audible voice. He looked up at Elena and his eyes lit up.

"Hey." Elena said lightly.

* * *

For what must have been several hours, various people came in to see Reno whilst Elena, Rude and Rihanna were there. The doctors and nurses, Tseng and for a few minutes, even Rufus Shin-Ra. Reno's mood seemed to lift by the minute, just by talking to people. Eventually, as it was starting to get dark outside it seemed that no one else was coming. Rude stood up and sighed.

"I'm gonna head off." he said huskily. Elena could see he was tired. "I'll see you all later… and try not to do anything else stupid while I'm gone, okay Reno?"

"I'll try, partner." Reno grinned palely. "Rihanna, you should head off with Rude, too. You look tired."

"But-"

"No buts. Go with him. Rude?" Reno smiled as Rude grabbed Rihanna by the arm and pulled her gently.

"Come on." he said, smiling. "You can come back tomorrow. Leave these two alone for a while."

Rihanna rolled her eyes and leaned down to kiss her older brother on the forehead. "See you tomorrow, Reno. I love you."

It was strangely quiet with Rude and Rihanna gone, and several minutes passed of Elena and Reno just staring each other in the eyes. Although Reno looked a lot more cheery, he still looked very ill, and there was just a hint of anguish in his eyes.

"Please… don't ever do anything like that again, Reno." the blond Turk said eventually. "You scared me. I don't know what I would have done…"

"Sorry." Reno edged over slightly in his bed and patted next to him. Elena perched on the side, not wanting to smother the redhead too much.

"I do care about you, you know?" She leaned back and stroked his hair gently as he closed his eyes. "We all do."

"I know." he replied quietly.

"This is all over now. It'll only get better, okay?" she reassured him, leaning forward to kiss him. He accepted it, and returned it softly and sweetly. It was a kiss filled with more passion and emotion than ever before.

"I'm sorry… for what I said. I just couldn't stand to think of you being hurt after I went." Reno explained awkwardly after they broke apart.

"And you think that I would just suddenly not care about you?" Elena couldn't help but laugh.

"Well…" Reno shrugged. "It made me feel a little better about it."

"So you didn't mean it then?" Elena asked. "What about Yuffie?"

"I meant it when I said it to Yuffie. Not you though. Her and me… we've grown too far apart through all this. It's too awkward." Reno sighed happily. "Ya know… I could've quite happily died before…"

"What?!" Elena leaned back and looked at Reno, shocked.

"Ya know why?" the redhead looked amused by Elena's disbelief. "'Cause the last thing I saw was you. That's quite a moment to go out on…"

Elena leaned closer to Reno, tears filling her eyes again. "Thank you." she brushed his red hair out of his eyes as he looked up at her, his aqua eyes shining again.

"Oh, and by the way…" he smiled peacefully. "I love you, too, 'Laney."


End file.
